Top Security Challenges for Property Managers and How to Overcome Them

Handling the day-to-day operations of a property or groups of property can be difficult due to the heightened security risks faced, particularly for vacant properties.

With property predictions for 2025 suggesting that some crime types look to be on the rise, this poses further threats to property managers, whose responsibility it is to maintain and protect properties on the behalf of owners. 

As the property management industry continues to be stretched with new crime developments and growing threats, we explore the main security challenges you face and how to overcome them.

Why are Property Managers Responsible For a Property’s Security?

Property managers' roles center around overseeing the day-to-day operations and maintenance of a building. This includes managing the safety of any occupiers and of the building itself by actively managing the security of it. 

You hold a legal obligation to take care of any tenants or staff utilizing your property and this includes preventing any crime that could impact them, ensuring that the property remains secure, and addressing any safety concerns regarding the property.

In addition to this, there are further legal obligations which could impact your role as a property manager and as a wider business:

• You are liable for any issues that occur on the property grounds including natural disasters, fire, and any criminal activity.
• You can be held liable for any injuries, crime, or deaths that take place on your property’s perimeter if this is due to neglect.

Overall, such liability can create large legal bills, lawsuits, and financial penalties if it is found that they have failed to meet expectations with the condition of the property and all elements within the property’s perimeter. 

The Top 6 Security Challenges for Property Managers and How to Overcome Them

For commercial properties, there are a world of security challenges, all of which can lead to heavy financial implications, reputational damage, and customer loss.

All property managers' aims will be to protect the commercial properties they are responsible for against any crime and the subsequent consequences from this. 

Not doing this could lead to backlash onto the property management business and a decrease in clients, creating financial loss and potential legal ramifications.

There are 8 key security challenges all property managers should be aware of regarding commercial property and how to tackle this:

Unauthorized Access

With all property types, there runs a high-risk of unauthorized access as properties often provide many entry points, whether that be through doorways, windows, or outbuildings. 

Unauthorized access may not seem that intimidating, however, you will be surprised about the damage that can be caused from this. The dangerous element of such illegal activity is the unexpected factor of it.

Intruders could simply access your property and not impart any property damage, however, there is a high likelihood intruders could commit crimes such as theft, vandalism, cyber attacks, and arson. 

As a property manager your responsibility is to maintain the property for the owner and support them with their security needs. The risk of unauthorized access could jeopardize your reputation and lead to even worse financial and legal ramifications. 

LotGuard’s Top Tips to Overcome This:

The level of defense you receive against this will all be dependent on how advanced the security measures in place are at the property to prevent such access. 

Usually a blended approach is best in these types of scenarios as you need to focus on multiple locations where unauthorized access could be detected, starting with your parking lot. 

Many will believe that internal security and access control on doors is of utmost importance for these types of situations, however, In most instances intruders will first begin on the outside of the property.

That’s why as an initial step we’d recommend implementing an external surveillance system, potentially on the building itself or in the parking lot.

The benefit of a parking lot security solution such as with the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailer is that they often allow for vast security coverage, capturing unauthorized vehicles as well as individuals.

Additionally, by working with LotGuard, you will receive the following benefits with your property and its parking lot:

• Relocatable unit that allows you to adjust the positioning of your surveillance system if you have a specific focus.
• High-quality, infrared PTZ cameras with zoom in capabilities that ensure your property and parking lot receive 24/7 monitoring, day to night.
• Backed by a remote monitoring service that uses security experts that monitor the live security footage for any threats and work to respond appropriately to this including sending live voice-down audio messages and calling Law Enforcement.
• Built-in video analytics that provides high-performance intrusion detection and intelligence surveillance all year round. 

Once external cameras are fitted, you can then consider adding an internal surveillance system to cover any incidents inside the property and ensure that your door access control is at the level you require it to be for the purpose of the building.

Emergency Preparedness

Being prepared for emergencies such as natural disasters and security breaches is vital to the protection of a property, however, because emergencies are often rare, many property managers may not be aware of how to do this or believe they need to do it.

Emergencies normally escalate quickly and present a large security risk to people within the property and the property itself.

Not preparing your property for these types of scenarios could be disastrous and leave your property completely exposed to risks such as property damage, public safety issues, and vandalism.

LotGuard’s Top Tips to Overcome This:

We understand that you cannot prepare for every situation, your property and any individuals utilizing it, however, there are many ways you can still boost your emergency preparedness as best as possible. 

For natural disasters, there should be policies and procedures in place for anyone utilizing the building that is followed in instances where one occurs. 

Adding a backup generator, emergency lighting, and other property support tools can help to provide vital features which could be impacted by a natural disaster.

With other types of emergencies, upgrading or boosting your security measures will help to prevent emergencies from escalating and responding to these types of incidents quickly. 

The best security method for this is a surveillance system as its aim is to monitor, record, and respond to threats appropriately in order to prevent or reduce any crime presented to the property.

By using an external system such as the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailers, they work to capture crime at its earliest stage. Situated in your parking lot, our surveillance cameras work to identify any crime from the outside of the property where it often begins. 

Backed with remote monitoring services, security experts will assess any motion detected and respond with the appropriate measures to ensure any emergency can be de-escalated as quickly as possible. 

This minimises false alarms and focuses on responding to the emergencies that require a speedy response.

Panhandling

For commercial properties, particularly within the retail space, panhandling can have a large impact on their business and the building’s reputation in general. 

As property managers, your responsibility is to maintain the state of the property and ensure it is functioning well which includes reducing the disturbances in which it might face.

Although panhandling takes place outside of a property, issues such as reputational damage, property damage, drug use, and at times violence can occur from this type of activity. 

You could be held legally responsible for any injury or illegal activity that takes place on your property’s ground, therefore it is central to manage panhandling responsibly, especially where there are occupants within the building.

LotGuard’s Top Tips to Overcome This:

You may be thinking that managing panhandling is difficult considering it takes place on the outside of the property, however, if it is within the property perimeter, you can take action.

Law Enforcement are there to support these matters, but many are already stretched with other crime and therefore it is good to take management of this yourself in a safe manner to help prevent any subsequent crime from this.

Perimeter fencing could be used to create a physical barrier, however, this may not be appropriate for all building types as it could restrict access to your parking lot and property. Fences are also scalable and do not completely prevent individuals from accessing an area.

For full protection, our parking lot security solution, LotGuard PRO, is there to manage panhandling in a safe manner. With built-in video analytics, our cameras can detect loitering and respond to this in order to reduce the impact of such activity on the property and any occupiers.

Our live voice-down audio feature can also be used to communicate with any individuals panhandling and deter them from utilizing your property’s space to do so.

Encampments

With homelessness on a continuous rise, commercial properties will face the increased risk of encampments impacting them as they utilize their outside perimeter and parking lot to situate themselves.

Although homeless encampments are illegal on public property and Law Enforcement can remove them from spaces such as property parking lots and from your property perimeter, the impact from them can be greater than you think on your property.

Within your responsibilities you are expected to maintain the property, and unfortunately issues such as property damage, vandalism, and theft can all increase alongside encampments. If this occurs, you could face financial implications from this to repair or replace the damage caused.

LotGuard’s Top Tips to Overcome This:

You should always make sure that you communicate with Law Enforcement to help understand the best method of approach and the process they follow if your property faces the issue of encampment at any stage.

In addition to this, you can also implement extra security measures yourself such as guards or perimeter fencing. However, guards are costly for 24/7 monitoring and perimeter fencing is not completely full-proof. 

A mobile surveillance system is often considered the most effective method for such an issue. With LotGuard we ensure our fully-managed service goes one step further to support you through our multiple visual deterrent features and remote monitoring service designed to easily detect, deter, and deal with any active incidents.

This service can also contact Law Enforcement directly to prevent encampments from congregating in the first place.

Property Condition Monitoring

Allowing your property or building to fall into a poor condition can lead to a multitude of security challenges such as, injury, theft, vandalism, and public safety risks, all of which you could be held liable for.

Issues such as poor plumbing, fault electricity, and other dangers could all create fire hazards, injury concerns, and at worst risks of death. 

LotGuard’s Top Tips to Overcome This:

The condition of a property can change quickly, especially properties and buildings left vacant.

The first step to maintain the property’s condition is to complete regular checks of the property or building and ensure that the condition is of standard and that all necessary areas work as needed. 

For vacant properties these checks should be more regular as without any occupiers, the condition of the property is more likely to decrease and if an issue occurs this may not be noticed as quickly meaning they will be more difficult to resolve once found.

In addition to this, with all property types, you should consider boosting your security with a surveillance system. 

With the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailer, our mobile surveillance system can sit within your parking lot and monitor your property and all of its perimeter. They can be fitted with up to 4 infrared PTZ cameras with zoom in capabilities and near 360 degree view that ensures 24/7, 365 days both day and night.

You can remotely monitor this from wherever you are and if issues are found, you can address these quickly to ensure they are not allowed to worsen. This helps reduce costs and ensure you fulfill your role as a property manager.

If your building is used for commercial purposes, we would recommend informing the company utilizing the property on the process of notifying you of any maintenance or conditionings issues they may find. This allows you to resolve issues quickly, reducing the damage caused and protecting the individuals involved.

Vehicle Damage and Theft

Buildings such as office buildings, apartments, and retail space will often include parking lots within their perimeter which you will also be required to maintain for them and protect from any security breaches. 

However, vehicle theft continues to rise and your parking lot could easily become a target for criminals with crimes such as vehicle damage and theft. 

Even though vehicles are held on the outside of the property, if the parking lot is within your property’s perimeter then you are liable for any crime committed where you have neglected the security of it.

Vehicle damage and theft can also lead to reputational damage where tenants or businesses may not wish to rent or pay for the building if there’s fears that vehicles will be stolen or damaged.

LotGuard’s Top Tips to Overcome This:

The best way to respond to such crime is to boost your parking lot security. There are multiple security options including perimeter fencing, guards, and mobile surveillance systems.

At LotGuard, we specialize in parking lot security and have designed a security solution that supports their specific needs and combat their security challenges. 

Standing at 20-ft tall, our Surveillance Trailers work to deter crime and create a strong security presence by informing any intruders that there is live monitoring in place. Backed by remote monitoring services, security experts will assess footage and respond quickly to threats including vehicle theft in the most appropriate manner.

They can help by sending a live voice-down audio message over the speakerphones to prevent it from happening in the first place or call Law Enforcement to guarantee you with the best chance of catching criminals in the act rather than providing a retrospective response to it. 

You can slot our Trailers into one parking slot and individuals can park right next to them, meaning they create no intimidation to anyone authorized to use the parking lot. 

Boost Your Property’s Parking Lot Security With LotGuard

Property crime often starts in your parking lot, so not protecting this simply leaves your property exposed to all types of security risks.

With over 20-years of parking lot security solution expertise, LotGuard continuously work to create innovative, yet cost-effective solutions that can support your property’s needs including, the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailer.

Don’t let your business fall victim to property crime and legal expenses of this and contact one of our Surveillance Trailer experts today who can advise you on the best response to your security challenges.