If you live in any type of multi family housing there are some security topics that require some extra attention. The biggest concern is about people, both your family and your neighbors. Having lived in several different apartment complexes, in addition to college dorms and military barracks, I have experienced the urge to mind my own business that comes along with living in such close proximity to strangers. This is especially true in rental homes where you don’t have the common bond of a school or military unit to bring you together. A far better response would be to introduce yourself to everyone you see coming or going from your building or nearby units. When the housing in question experiences a constant flow of new faces due to people moving in and out, this becomes even more important. By paying attention and learning who your neighbors are and establishing even a casual acquaintance with them, you are creating a network that can help protect each other. The establishment of such a network of neighbors has numerous benefits, often operating like an informal Neighborhood Watch. You are more likely to recognize when someone does not belong. You are more likely to let each other know about incidents or suspicious activities near each others’ homes or cars. Many crimes that take place in apartment complexes are committed by persons with a connection to that complex…if not a resident themselves, the criminals may be friends or relatives of someone who does live there. By getting to know your neighbors, you may even unknowingly create pressure to select a home other than yours. Of course, this is a double edged sword…do not choose from among these new acquaintances when selecting a person to hold an emergency key or to share your plan to be away from home with. Hopefully if any of your neighbors are people you need to be concerned with, you will form such an impression upon meeting them and can make a point to pay extra attention. Perhaps in the course of meeting your neighbors you will learn of enough interested people to form an official Neighborhood Watch or similar group.
Next up of concern for apartments is a pet peeve of mine, sliding doors. Sliding doors can be found in the vast majority of apartments in the U.S. An entire article about how to secure a sliding door can be found here. Doing so costs very little time and almost no money, and I highly recommend it even for those who do not live on the ground floor. As a boy I learned that it was indeed possible to climb up onto the balcony of my second floor apartment without ropes, ladders, or other assistance. Even easier was to go from balcony to balcony once you gain entrance to one unit. While the modifications involved in securing a sliding door are minor, invisible from the outside, and nearly so from inside, make sure you get permission from the owner or manager before drilling holes or making other permanent modifications if you are a renter. If you express concern and point to the simple instructions on CrimeRepellent.com, the management may prefer to perform the modification themselves. This is especially true when they consider the potential liability of a known and easily corrected security flaw.
Many renters skip insurance, believing it to be an unnecessary expense. Be aware though, your neighbors may not be as responsible as you are, and should they cause a fire or flood, your landlord is not likely to cover the cost of your personal belongings. Even a little coverage would be of tremendous help if you should have to start over from scratch.
Two fairly easy items to obtain and put to use are alarms and safes. An alarm used in a rental unit would by necessity be one that doesn’t require permanent installation, but this could still be of value. Alarms that provide a variety of sensors such as those to protect doors and windows, or to detect motion or glass breakage, are available fairly inexpensively. At the least, the noise from an audible alarm is likely to get reported to the landlord or police as a noise complaint. A safe or lockbox bolted to the wall studs would make it more difficult for a burglar to make off with your valuables, and the holes from such an installation can be easily repaired in much the same fashion as patching holes where you hang family portraits.
One more thing to consider when choosing an apartment is the lock. Installing longer screws in the hinges and strike plates and pinning the hinges are simple ways to upgrade your apartment’s security that landlords are unlikely to object to, and instructions can be found elsewhere at CrimeRepellent.com. These upgrades, however, depend on the unauthorized person not having a key. Many large apartment complexes have an inventory of extra locks and swap them out when tenants move so that past residents do not know which unit the keys they neglected to turn in will fit. Ask if changing locks is normal practice for them, and if not, ask if you can purchase a new lock for their maintenance staff to install for you. Deadbolt locks similar to those used in rental units are not very expensive. Be certain to ask about the locks before you sign the lease, when your bargaining power is at its highest. If the answer is no to both, I would strongly prefer to make other living arrangements.