Coronavirus Safety Tips For Multifamily Property Managers
While significant guidance and closures have come out for hospitality, retail and office properties amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, tips in the news have been minimal for apartment communities. Even the CDC’s website lacks a section specific to multifamily buildings. To help during these challenging times, here are our Coronavirus safety tips for multifamily property managers.
Cancel Resident Events
First, property managers need to cancel any planned resident events. Reducing large social gatherings is one of the best ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This is why many states have placed restrictions on gatherings over 50 people. Property managers should also temporarily close any common area party rooms used for social gatherings. This will also automatically eliminate social gatherings planned by residents and their guests.
In addition to canceling special resident events, property managers should suspend any regular or recurring events at their properties. This could include things like a weekly resident happy hour or onsite fitness classes, for example.
Temporarily Close Common Areas
In addition to canceling resident events, property managers should consider temporarily closing areas of their property where residents congregate. For most properties, this would include:
- Indoor and outdoor pools
- Community clubhouses
- Gyms and fitness centers
- Co-working spaces
- Recreation rooms
- Communal party rooms
While these closures will upset and impact many residents, they will reduce the number of social gatherings and interactions. Taking these steps will help slow the spread of the Coronavirus in an apartment building.
Clean Community Laundry Rooms
While canceling events and closing common areas will help slow the spread of the Coronavirus, property managers cannot close the laundry room. Consequently, this is one of the most challenging areas in terms of the Coronavirus. As a result, property managers should have a specific plan for the laundry room.
Since COVID-19 survives on hard surfaces, it can be contracted from multifamily laundry equipment. To reduce the risk of spread from laundry equipment, encourage residents to wipe down washers and dryers after they use them. Property managers can provide cleaning supplies like disinfecting wipes or sprays to make things easier for residents. Wiping down lids, knobs, buttons and handles after each use can help make multi-housing laundry rooms cleaner safer.
In addition to these measures, property managers should ask their maintenance staff or cleaning company to wipe down machines on a daily basis.
Choose EPA Approved Cleaning Products
Just because the maintenance team or a contract cleaning company is wiping down surfaces, it does not mean they are properly disinfecting and killing Coronavirus. Property managers should double check what cleaning products are being used, especially in high traffic areas. This list of 274 EPA approved disinfectants against SARS-CoV-2 are believed to also be effective against Coronavirus.
Additionally, unexpired household bleach is an effective disinfectant against Coronavirus when properly diluted. Property managers can share these CDC guidelines with their staff, residents and cleaning companies on how to properly dilute bleach to create an effective disinfectant.
Do Not Neglect Property Maintenance
While certain projects can be postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, property managers should avoid delaying necessary maintenance work at their properties whenever possible. This is especially true for work required by law, such as fire alarm tests and elevator inspections. Outdoor projects, like parking lot repairs, roof repairs, building repaints and landscape maintenance, should also be fine since they result in little to no contact with residents.
Property managers should make sure contractors who are going inside the property or coming into contact with residents for service or maintenance work follow best practices to reduce the spread of Coronavirus. This could include requiring contractors to wear protective masks or gloves while working indoors. Another reason
Keep Residents Informed
The last item on our list of Coronavirus safety tips for multifamily property managers is all about keeping residents informed. When people are not informed, they inherently become more worried and concerned. While property managers will not have all the answers, they can make residents less anxious by sharing what they are doing to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus at a property.
In most cases, property managers should take guidance on these communications for company executives. Great ways to share this information include email marketing, putting printed copies in resident’s mailboxes and social media including Facebook Groups and Pages.
Find Cleaning Contractors Using BidSource
Property managers can use BidSource to have our team find a commercial cleaning contractor ready to assist with any Coronavirus related needs at your property. Share your project details using the form below and our team will be in touch with a qualified contractor!
