One of the most important things when it comes to your on-site tenant storage is security. After all, you’re looking to rent them out to your tenants to increase the cash flow from your property. If your tenants feel like their belongings won’t be safe in these units, they likely won’t rent them at all. That means that it falls squarely on your shoulders to investigate how secure any particular storage locker is so you can inspire faith in the safety of the units. Fortunately, this isn’t too hard of a process.
In fact, you can expect to find the vast majority of the information that you need online. Most companies that manufacture on-site storage include safety features right on their websites, and if they don’t you can still find that information. If someone purchases storage for their apartment complex and it ends up not being as secure as it needs to be, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to find their reviews somewhere online so you can know to avoid that brand. What how exactly can you even be sure that your storage units are secure even beyond that? Let’s take a look.
Table of Contents
Be Careful About the Types of Locks You Use
Locks are important. They keep most of the people you don’t want getting into things while still allowing people that are allowed to access them the ability to do so. The word “most” in that last sentence is doing a lot of work because there are a lot of people that know ways to get around locks. It’s actually not too difficult to get around most locks if you know what you’re doing. Some locks are as easy to get open as taking a pair of bolt cutters to them, but that’s something that could easily be caught early on in the process.
The bigger issue you should be on the lookout for are people that know how to pick locks. Even the most expertly-crafted locks can be picked, but those types of locks usually take long enough to get the would-be thief busted in the act. On the other hand, there are plenty of locks on the market that can be picked in mere seconds. When you’re deciding which tenant lockers to use, you’re going to want to make sure that the locks that are used will at least prove a challenge to an experienced lockpick.
Some companies will leave it up to you to pick out your own locks, and that’s going to take some extra research if you want to make sure that they’re safe. Fortunately, there are a lot of people on YouTube that are essentially lockpicks that review locks for their security features. That makes your research a lot easier because you can listen to the opinion of someone who picks locks for a living for free without ever having to contact someone. In many cases, these internet lockpicks are even more adept than you can expect your local locksmith to be, which makes their information even more invaluable.
Pay Attention to the Materials Used in the Storage Unit
Another way that people will attempt to access storage units is by using brute force. A well-made storage unit won’t respond to these kinds of tactics. Of course, most metal can be cut by using a circular saw, but that would make a lot of noise and take a lot of time for something that would need to be a covert operation. Put yourself into the shoes of the thief. How would you try to break into a storage unit?
Less well-made storage units could have doors that would buckle if a grown man body slammed it. Once they were in, they could have their pick of the contents. If the materials used in a storage unit are weak enough, the door could be broken by doing something as simple as stabbing it with a knife. That small hole plus the strength of a moderately strong person could easily result in them getting access to the unit by them simply just tearing the door open with their hands. Of course, they’d likely get a little injured in the process but if they think there’s a good enough payday on the other side of the door they could risk it.
How is the Unit Constructed?
There are other ways to try to brute force your way into a storage unit. Really, any part of the unit being too weak to hold up to a reasonably strong person’s strength can be a huge issue. It’s like the saying goes, “you’re only as strong as your weakest link.” This is especially true when it comes to trying to keep something like a storage unit secure.
For instance, how well is the locking system fastened to the door? If someone can manage to tear that off it won’t matter how solid the door is or how advanced the lock that you chose is. Without that mechanism, entering the storage unit is about as easy as walking into a bank during business hours. It is unlikely that someone would take that approach, but if someone would be willing to smash someone else’s windshield because they saw a pack of cigarettes on the dash, there are definitely people willing to do much more drastic actions for much bigger paydays.
Just make sure that you pay close attention to every aspect of the unit that you’re considering purchasing before you actually make your purchase. Most companies that make these kinds of storage units have security in mind, but in every industry, there are always going to be people that are just looking to make a quick buck and don’t care about what they’re putting onto the market. You’d hope that those kinds of people would simply have failing businesses, but sometimes companies like that do slip through the cracks so you have to be vigilant when checking for the quality of your storage units.
What Are Some Things You Should Look For?
We’ve gone over a lot of things that you should be on the lookout for, but what should you actively be looking for when deciding what kind of storage unit you should install in your apartment complex? Well, there are a lot of things that you should try to find, but depending on your budget it could be unobtainable to find something that’s perfectly secure for your tenants. That’s alright though because not everything needs to be perfectly secure, especially with how expensive that would be.
If you do want to make sure that your storage units are impossible to break into, well… you’d essentially want something that no one would be able to break into. That’s hard to do because anything can be broken with the right tools. You’d need units that are incredibly fortified with solid steel doors and maybe encased in a few feet of concrete. You’d also probably want to have people guarding the units 24/7, which makes it even pricier. None of that is all too necessary in most cases because if someone wants that kind of security for their belongings, they’ll seek it out.
What you really want is simply to make sure that it would take both a reasonably talented lockpick and a reasonably strong person time to break into the unit. The longer it takes to enter a unit, the more likely it is that they’ll alert someone with their presence. That means doors that are reinforced enough that someone couldn’t simply tackle it and break it down and locks that are complicated enough that it would become a puzzle to any lock pick. The last thing that you want is for someone to be able to be in and out in a matter of minutes.
Another thing you should keep in mind is the placement of the storage units. If you want them to be the most secure, place them somewhere that someone would likely notice when someone tried to break into them. We’re tempted to say to put them as deep into the apartment complex as possible so that it would take the thief a while to escape, but that’s not feasible in many complexes. Just be aware of where you place the units and put yourself into the shoes of the thief. Think of what the most convenient escape route would be from any place in your complex and make sure that there are no overly convenient routes for them to use.
Securing Your Tenant’s Belongings
It’s usually a win-win situation when you install on-site storage for your tenants. You get a little extra cash flow, and your tenants get a place to store their things without having to drive down to the local Uhaul every time they want to access it. It’s important to keep security in mind for both of your sakes because it’s likely that if people feel that your units are too insecure they’ll be willing to drive down to Uhaul to access their things if it means their things will be safer.
