The topic on smoke alarms got me thinking...

We did a lot of things in our rentals for safety reasons. And there are multiple reasons to make the houses safe. The most obvious being that we don't want tenants to get seriously hurt or die in our rentals because of something unsafe that we could have addressed. But there is a secondary reason...it helps you develop a reputation as a quality and safe LL. IMO this would go a long way in court if anything ever DID happen.

Here are a few things we did that were "extra" in my view:

1) Hardwired smoke alarms

2) Photoelectric smoke alarms (pricier) vs ionization type

3) Reversed the swing of doors that swung into a basement stairwell

4) Tested all houses for radon and mitigated if levels were high

5) CO alarm in each house

6) Supplied small amount of salt to put on sidewalks if tenants were moving in during winter

7) Put put bedbug test traps between all tenants, photographed results (no bugs in traps) and showed traps to tenants, having them initial that no bedbugs were present upon move-in

8) All entry doors to house or garage were fire rated

9) Replaced any splash guard in kitchen sink to avoid people sticking hand down where disposal is (if house equipped with disposal)

10) Set water heater on electric water heaters to no more than 130 degrees to avoid scalding

11) When installing new exterior door locks, we used 3" screws for the strike plate that go into the stud, not just using the 3/4" screws that come with the strikeplate...this makes it more difficult to kick the door in

12) Security or motion lights on every house where appropriate

So...let's say tenant does get hurt in one of our properties and we are taken to court. There are no guarantees, and the specifics will determine the outcome...but if I can show in court via our attorney that we do all the above on our properties...IMO we are much less likely to come down on the wrong side of the case compared to a landlord that does none of those things.

Yes, these things cost money...but when we got out of the business and sold our houses...I like to think that we did get some of this back in terms of value. We sold five rentals and did not have a single safety issue show up on any of the inspection reports.

I really don't think it will matter in a court of law what you did or do as long as you -- or your contractor -- follow the local building codes. Having a licensed contractor and/or have the local building inspector sign off on the repairs would help.

This is where before and after photos and your lease comes into play. Keeping logbooks of each rental building repair requests and your actions to these requests are also important.

I appreciate what you are doing. We both know that not all landlords out there have "safe homes" In many cases tenants don't know what they are looking at. A deadbolt requiring a key to unlock it isn't safe during a fire if you don't have the key for example.

I believe NE is spot on, as an attorney will go out of their way to prove that someone getting hurt was your fault. This is where these rental inspections that I totally hate, help bail my butt out when I had an arson occur in my 41 unit.

I had a fire fighter burn themselves and I was providing fire extinguishers to each tenant without providing training to my tenants. The rental inspection required the extinguisher in every unit under the kitchen sink. The bottom line, if anything does wrong - even if it is not your fault and you follow the directions to the letter, you still be under the microscope. You will not be comfortable period after a mishap occurs.

You have the right mind set. In your monthly business minutes, make sure to list these extra safety steps you have. Also make sure your tenants sign off on your safety addendum outlining these safety features work and are installed.

I do not supply salt at all. If it doesn't work well and they fall they can sue you for it. If I supply nothing and they fall then they have to sue Mother Nature and she has better attorneys than I do.

That is a pretty extensive list. I have done some of those things in all my places but I have never done all of those things in any one place.

With the same thought process if that person throws the salt out and still falls maybe you provided bad product? Maybe they fall while throwing your salt out.

I am talking about SFHs where there is one person responsible and that is the tenant. I have the same philosophy for my duplexes as well.

If I start being responsible for the salt then I need to get up and head over to the places when the temps are going to drop. I could hire this done as well but to what end?

When I walk out and see ice on my walk I do something about it. I don't call the treasurer's office and say since I am paying property taxes on the place they need to salt it for me.