How Safe Is the Apartment You Want to Rent? Key Questions to Ask a Landlord Before Signing a Lease
A sense of security and safety for you and your family is key to making a house feel like a home.
Unfortunately, many landlords don’t provide, and in some cases aren’t legally required to share, crime and safety information to a potential tenant.
“Along with costs and amenities, tenants should be prepared to ask a variety of questions about safety measures before signing a lease and moving into a new apartment or home” says Michael Haggard. Haggard is the Managing Partner of The Haggard Law Firm (www.haggardlawfirm.com) which has made a mark successfully representing tenants who are injured or killed by someone committing a crime that could have been prevented if the landlord of the property where the crime occurs had taken proper security measures.
“Over the years the media has done a great job exposing slumlords who don’t take good physical care of a property. We want tenants to also be aware of ‘security slumlords’ who know a crime could likely occur on their property, and don’t do anything about it” adds Haggard.
Haggard has four questions every tenant should ask a potential landlord.
- What Security Measures do you have at this Apartment Complex or Condominium? (i.e. manned security, surveillance cameras, gated entry….?)
- Have any violent crimes occurred here that I should be concerned about considering I am moving here with my family? Fortunately, you can also check with the local police department and in most areas find this information out online. If the landlord is dishonest, you can get a better sense of what it will be to live there under the thumb of a management team that would not be truthful when a question of safety arises.
- Do you perform background checks on fellow residents to make sure dangerous folks are not our neighbors? If the answer is yes, ask them when they began doing this. You may also have an opportunity to pose the question to residents already living there.
- Do you update us if any type of crime pattern is emerging as we live here and are busy working, where we might not be aware of the crime problem? If the answer is yes, ask them to give you an example.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT NEGLIGENT SECURITY CASES
About Michael Haggard
Michael Haggard has dedicated his career to the pursuit of justice on behalf of his clients in the courtroom securing unprecedented awards and as an activist who continuously lobbies for permanent solutions and change through local, statewide and federal legislation. Specializing in pool drowning, negligent security, wrongful death, unsafe premises and products liability, Haggard has established himself as a powerful force in the Legal Community as the Managing Partner for The Haggard Law Firm which has delivered more than $1 Billion in results for its clients since 2000. For Full Bio, Click Here
