The Importance of Accessibility in Property Management

Synergy Real Estate • November 10, 2020

Quality property management means you balance the needs of the building with the needs of your tenants. The people living in your building need to feel as if they are being properly cared for.

This includes being attentive to their requests and the state of the building. It also means ensuring that every aspect of your building comfortably suits all who enter.

Accessible access to those with disabilities throughout your building is required by law. As far as your lawyers are concerned, this is perhaps the most important reason to keep accessibility at the forefront of your mind.

However, the real world experience of your guests is equally as important reason to make sure everyone can comfortably access your facilities.

Here are 6 reasons why it’s so important for property management to pay attention to accessibility considerations:

Legality Issues
Everyone Should Feel Welcome
It Shows You Care
Safety Is a Major Concern
It Makes Your Job Easier
It’s Not Difficult

1. Legality Issues

As we mentioned, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination based on a person’s disability. The most common form of this are requirements for buildings regarding design and signage.

This includes considerations such as ramps for wheelchair access where stairs are required and more.

Failure to adhere to these requirements will leave you open for legal troubles. This includes every public-facing area of your establishment as well as your website.

Legal requirements shouldn’t be the only reason you offer accessibility considerations, but it’s an unavoidable aspect. Be sure to consult the ADA website to ensure you are covering all of your legal bases.

2. Everyone Should Feel Welcome

Property management works to create a comfortable atmosphere for tenants and guests. One of the main jobs of property management, after all, is to keep the units filled as much as possible. Any gaps in occupancy create financial strain.

People aren’t going to want to visit a place that puts them in uncomfortable situations. This means property managers for both residential as well as commercial buildings will see negative consequences by not making every stride they can to keep their building accessible to everybody.

An inviting environment will elicit positive feelings from people who need of accessibility considerations as well as those who don’t.

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3. It Shows You Care

People don’t want to work with somebody that doesn’t seem to care about their well-being. Multi-family establishments factor into this as well, since tenant leases are essentially business contracts.

Would you give money to somebody that doesn’t show any regard for your health and safety?

Quality property management balances the two important considerations of interpersonal connections and profitable business practices. And often, these two considerations work hand-in-hand.

Installing more than the basic requirements in regards to accessibility options shows your tenants that you have their best interests at heart.

4. Safety Is a Major Concern

Proper adherence to accessibility considerations will make your establishment safer for all who enter. We don’t like to think about emergencies, but it’s essential to do so. We won’t be able to ensure all of the proper systems are in place if we don’t plan for every possible scenario.

Accessibility means everybody can safely and easily enter your building. However, it also means everyone is able to get out when they need to.

Streamlined evacuation systems are a complete necessity for every building. And installing accessibility considerations from the very beginning will make this process much easier.

And on a smaller scale, a properly-designed space won’t force somebody to try to navigate a difficult obstacle.

5. It Makes Your Job Easier

Including all the proper systems makes a property manager’s job much smoother. Maintaining a streamlined complex helps reduce surprises and unforeseen problems. These problems can dominate a person’s attention which leads to more small considerations slipping through the cracks and becoming larger problems later on.

A failure to properly address accessibility concerns is going to lead to complaints, possible legal trouble, and late-stage construction if new features need to be added. Putting any accessibility considerations off to a later date are going to make them much more difficult to rectify as time goes on.

6. It’s Not Difficult

The simple truth is that many of these accessibility considerations are easy to institute. Larger aspects such as building ramps near entrances and such should be worked into the initial plan for the building.

But smaller aspects such as proper signage and accessible website design don’t take more than a little research and thought.

Property management should work to create an atmosphere where everybody feels their needs are addressed. An emphasis on accessibility will position you to meet all of these needs.