You may be wondering how the coronavirus pandemic will impact the way you manage your rental properties, especially if you have several tenants occupying multiple units. As you know, COVID-19 is easily transmittable. As a property owner, this means that you now have an added responsibility to ensure you and your tenants remain safe and healthy.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) can linger on multiple surfaces and even survive in the air. For this reason, precautionary protocols such as social distancing, wearing of masks and frequent hand washing are essential.
In this article, we will outline how you can execute measures that will keep yourself and your tenants protected from COVID-19.
Pay Attention to Official Sources of Information
Many of your tenants will depend on you to share useful information with them, but make sure you are sharing reliable information. Fake news about COVID-19 is spreading all over the Internet. It’s important to avoid this. Rather, you want to find credible sources that are sharing factual content.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the WHO (World Health Organization) are good resources.
Openly Communicate with your Tenants
Now that you know where to find factual information regarding COVID-19, share it with your tenants!
Additionally, in order to help reduce your tenants’ stress, you should make yourself available to speak with them, to calmly deliver relevant information and to answer all their questions.
Some of their questions may include the following:
- What will you do if there’s an outbreak in the premise?
- Do you have a temporary evacuation plan if your tenants are infected?
- If a tenant gets infected, how will you reassure/protect the other tenants living in the same building?
- What’s your sanitation plan? How will you disinfect your building and common areas?
These are questions to keep in mind.
Also, when communicating with your tenants on the phone, by email or through video call, you should reassure them that you have the situation under control. Here are some points you can consider mentioning:
- Tell them that you have undertaken safety measures to ensure their protection. This will help them feel as though their safety is your number one priority.
- Share useful information from valid sources about implementing hygienic practices to safeguard their health against COVID-19.
- Reassure them that you are closely monitoring the development of the situation.
- Communicate that any planned events will be postponed until the gatherings can be held safely.
Keeping a solid tenant-landlord relationship is important, regardless of the current pandemic, and has other benefits. Read more here on how a good relationship with your tenants can prevent damages to your property.
Establish Hygiene Protocols
As a property owner, you must outline and execute your hygienic measures flawlessly. Frequently disinfecting common areas including stairwells, entrances and elevators is essential. You should also enforce the use of facemasks as an added safeguard.
Here are some more protocols that you should follow. You should also encourage all your tenants to follow these as well:
- Wash your hands: Using soap, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. Using hand sanitizer isn’t a replacement for hand washing, but if you have no access to water, you can use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Disinfect contact surfaces: The coronavirus can linger on many surfaces. For this reason, it’s important that you disinfect everything you touch. For instance, common surfaces include light switches, countertops, doorknobs, and touch screens. These all have a high risk of contamination.
- Understand the facemask policy: The CDC recommends that only caregivers and infected people wear medical facemasks. That said, you are encouraged to wear face cloth coverings.
- Wear gloves: When you start a new task or enter a new unit, be sure to wear a fresh pair of disposable gloves. Also, learn how to properly don and doff your personal protective equipment.
- Stay home: If you have symptoms of cough, cold and flu, it’s best to stay home and self-quarantine to prevent infecting others.
Review Leases and Legal Obligations
Even during a pandemic, you are not excused from your legal obligations. This means you must continue to uphold the safety and health codes in your property. It’s okay if there’s a delay, but you must avoid breach of contracts.
Legal obligations are still enforceable. As a property owner, you must still abide by the State Laws and review your responsibilities signed in the lease agreement.
Keep Reviewing and Adapting Plans
It’s difficult to know when COVID-19 will come to an end. Therefore, you must continue to be flexible, check for new updates and create new contingency plans.
Bottom Line – We Can Help You
Self-managing during a global pandemic is challenging and stressful. That’s why at RentSmartUSA, we want to help! We can support you and ensure you are legally protected. Our professional team will help you implement excellent protocols in your property and ensure safety for all.
Contact us today.