Is Your Apartment Property Crime Free? Take a look!
No place of business, including the rental industry, can guarantee your safety from the criminal acts of others. Property Management companies tend to make it difficult, if not impossible, to understand what level of crime is both on the property and in the neighborhood. What you are likely to hear as a prospective tenant is: We don’t provide security. We cannot guarantee your safety.” They may not have security personnel on property but they do provide certain aspects of security and safety. Lights, locks, gates, maintaining the property’s appearance, notifying tenants of crimes (at their discretion), and so forth.
CrimeReports (www.crimereports.com) is a good resource for crime data across the US. Keep in mind that there is no magic number that has to be passed before an address is dangerous. Everyone interprets “safety” differently but having information is critical to that decision.
CrimeReports is free but it should not be considered the absolute crime tool. These are crimes that are reported and 40% don’t get reported. It is estimated that 60% of sexual assaults are not reported.
Talk to the property manager with this information in your hand and ask about the crime. They are not required to tell you anything. That’s why you should already have the information to show them!