The Best Features of myMRI Client Portal You’re Not Using

Posted on by MRI

MyMRI_logo_RGBClients of MRI Software are equipped with powerful tools that may not always get the attention they deserve. We’ve decided to break down the details of some of our most useful tools in the myMRI Client Portal. Make sure to visit the myMRI Client Portal today to experience our newly released, streamlined interface!

The myMRI Client Portal includes features such as:

  • Reporting and Dashboards – View your case activity at a glance on the home page with our real-time Support dashboards.
  • Our Chatbot Leo – Looking for the answer to a quick setup questions or maybe you have received an error when running a report? You can interact with Leo to search through our existing self-service library of resources or if you cannot find what you are looking for you will may be prompted to open a support case with our team.
  • Knowledge Articles – If you have any questions regarding the functions of the software or how to perform a task, there are over 2,500 knowledge articles to help you through your questions. You can sort and filter these articles by product family, generate PDFs, and share with your colleagues.
  • MRIFLIX Support Videos – View our library of client support videos designed to help you find the answers to frequently asked questions. The support team at MRI Software analyzes all of the data from our support cases selects the most common support requests. We have 220+ videos available for clients to get the support they need, without having to call their support team. These voice videos are paired with screen captures, making it simple for you to answer your questions and get on with your day.
  • Support Cases – Through the portal, clients are able to submit support cases, view the status of cases, and see the history of previous cases. This is also a great place to interact with your support team.
  • Product Documentation – Find user manuals, release notes, system requirements, and more.
  • Incident Reports (IRs) – The IR section allows users to view IRs submitted by themselves, or by MRI. Users now have the ability to view the status of IRs in real with estimated fix times.
  • Product Ideas – Help make our software better by sharing your ideas with our product management team. Users can submit their own enhancement requests or vote on other ideas submitted by the community.

MRI’s client portal aims to provide clients with the support they need to leverage their MRI solutions in a way that best suits their business. If any client has questions, they’re also free to contact the support team for additional assistance.

The three Rs of commercial tenant communication for property managers

Posted on by Beth Schwartz

March 2020 was a month none of us are likely to forget. As the COVID-19 outbreak continued to spread around the world, all of us were confronted with a flood of information on a daily basis. In many cases, these communications focused on travel restrictions, closures, and other precautions that we should take against the virus. When information is communicated efficiently, it has the power to change the behavior of billions of individuals across the world.

At the same time, communication within our smaller, local communities remains extremely important as information changes and evolves daily, if not hourly. The ability to quickly and easily reach large groups of people with a specific message has never been more of a requirement. And, this is certainly the case as we consider commercial real estate and the relationships we have with our tenants.

Commercial tenant communication

Traditionally, communications between landlords and tenants have fallen under the umbrella of ‘planned communications’. Property events, preventive or planned maintenance, billing or policy notices, or work order requests are common examples. Occasionally, more urgency is needed – power outages or water main breaks can have a significant impact and require a rapid response. While each touch point serves a different purpose, it’s clear that information delivered in a timely and transparent manner benefits both the landlord and tenant and helps solidify the ongoing relationship between the two.

So, if improved commercial tenant communication benefits both parties, how can today’s modern property owner or manager build and execute a productive communication program to drive tenant satisfaction? The most effective plans have common elements that can be distilled down to the three Rs: Reliable, Relevant and Rapid.

Reliable – Establishing relationships begins with open, honest and transparent communication that tenants can count on to make decisions about their own operations. These communications should continue through the entire course of the lease, not solely during the sales process or around renewal time. Messages should be delivered consistently across a variety of channels so that important information isn’t missed.

Relevant – Today’s tenants are constantly bombarded with messages – from customers, vendors and their landlords. To break through the noise, landlords should focus on delivering personalized messages that directly impact specific tenants and filter out others for whom the information doesn’t apply. Relevant messages are far less likely to be missed or ignored when not buried in a pile of general or unimportant messaging. You might even consider different channels for different notifications – text, email and voice messages can all play a role in reaching your tenants and extending that personal touch.

Rapid – Empowering commercial property managers with tools at their fingertips removes friction from the communication process. With a variety of channels to choose from, they are able to deliver the right message to the right recipients in a timely manner. This need is emphasized when information is time-sensitive and notifications must be distributed immediately.

Utilize tools to get the word out

As mentioned above, using multiple channels of communication to get the word out is critical, but this can put a great deal of stress on the property management or facilities teams. With a tool such as MRI Tenant Communications, your team can easily record voice messages and distribute them to select groups, while at the same time craft SMS and email messages to ensure delivery. But it isn’t simply the outgoing process that should be efficient – receiving feedback on the messaging is important, too. A productive communications tool should provide reporting features that help the property manager understand how a message was received so that future communications can be improved. Additionally, MRI Tenant Communications enables recipients to answer questions and provide status updates back to your team. In this way, the communication loop is closed and building management and tenants can send and receive important information as effectively as possible.

The fourth “R”: relationships

While the three Rs provide a framework for a communications plan, the ultimate goal is to achieve the fourth R. Establishing reliable, relevant and rapid communications creates an openness and trust that strengthens the relationship between landlord and tenant, opening the door to mutually beneficial business strategies that can last for years to come.

Watch the webinar to learn more about effective communication for commercial property managers.

COVID-19 and social distancing in the UK residential sector

Posted on by Trevor Youens

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is significant and varied across the real estate industry. For organisations operating in the residential space there are a number of challenges. Businesses need to consider the safety and well-being of their employees, of customers they interact with face-to-face, plus the residents, leaseholders, agents, landlords, property managers or other stakeholders they serve in their day-to-day activities. And that’s not to mention efforts to ensure their business continues as close to normal as possible.

Given the current social distancing guidelines from the government, and with more and more companies putting work-from-home policies into action for their teams, those involved in managing residential property will naturally see an increase in their reliance on digital solutions, communication and interaction. Indeed, the residential sector has seen significant investment in technology in recent years, and organisations that have been driving innovation and putting proptech at the heart of their operations should now expect to rely on that software to help them reduce disruption and achieve a degree of business continuity.

Here are some areas to consider, and how your tech can help you as you try to navigate the obstacles and uncertainty the COVID-19 outbreak has introduced:

Customer service

In the midst of so much disruption, is it even possible to maintain expected levels of service without disruption for your customers? Thanks to the tech available today, the answer might actually be yes. It’s highly likely that you’re using digital platforms for mass email, SMS and other forms of direct message – and you’ll certainly be looking at how you can expand that to fill potential gaps. Going further, automation will be key. For example, you can put programmes in place to deliver initial replies to queries, either offering information or providing a first-response before a member of your team goes deeper. This sort of reassurance could prove invaluable in such an uncertain climate. Where software allows (and you should have various options here) you can also look to digitalise processes for your customers. Common options are payments, maintenance requests and document sharing/signing – all of which can be done, end-to-end, with no need for in-person or even telephone interaction.

Customer interaction

With additional focus placed on quickly and effectively responding to queries, it’s important you don’t forget the need to provide customers with a proactive, clear and consistent stream of messages, keeping them fully updated with the latest news and developments. Of course, key communications on the subject of COVID-19 will be front and centre, particularly for those in self-isolation – but so will be sharing information from the wider community and society of which your stakeholders are a part. Of course, this would be paramount were you to find yourself dealing with a case or cases of coronavirus directly. If you use a resident portal, push its capabilities and ensure your customers understand it’s the place to go for updates such as information on planned maintenance, new guidelines on use of common areas, measures being taken to protect residents in buildings, or even the impact of a local lockdown were it to reach that stage. Alternatively, or as well, use your software to push content out through other channels such as your website. Crucially, you should also utilise your solutions to record your broadcasts and interactions so you have complete records of conversations for audit and potential compliance purposes.

Remote working

SaaS is the standard option when it comes to modern software, and it’s not a new trend. The fact that companies and individuals are transitioning to work from home, and are able to do so in such great numbers so quickly, is testament to how far the industry has come in terms of cloud technology. This flexibility is essential, but it goes deeper. There has never been a more crucial time to be fully aware of the mobile capabilities within your solutions. Can everyone in your business log in remotely? Do you have portals you can utilise? Are there integrated apps you can lean on to make remote working even easier? Understanding your full digital offering, and ensuring staff are fully trained and capable to maximise it, may help keep you ahead of the game and achieve full business continuity as the next few months unfold.

Strategic decision-making

These are largely unprecedented times. Across all industries and sectors, businesses will be feeling the effects of the measures introduced to tackle coronavirus – and real estate is certainly going to be impacted. But, directors and managers can be somewhat reassured by the abundance of data and information available today, and with your tech you have the ways and means to undertake quick and accurate analysis to help ensure you remain agile. As you deem necessary, your software should allow you to monitor metrics in real-time or at whatever frequency suits your approach, giving you the opportunity to spot and address performance problems – whether operational, financial or both. This is always important, but certainly something you can leverage in the current climate to help you navigate the challenges ahead.

These are some general thoughts aimed at encouraging some deeper thinking around how software can be relied upon to help you maintain ‘business as usual’ in this wholly unusual period. The list is not exhaustive, and you should definitely consider and interrogate the full capabilities of your digital products in all areas of your company.

And, don’t forget, you can check back on our dedicated page for the latest updates on the MRI Software response to the pandemic.

Evacuation Roll Call – the roll call we all need

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Accounting for people! It starts from the day we are born. The theatre nurse count our fingers and toes and enters the birth details into a medical registry. We are sent off to school, where our teacher completes roll-calls. We join the Scouts, Girl Guides, the Youth Group, Choir, football team, etc. and at every stage, people are counting our attendance or presence. But why is it necessary to do a head-count or roll call? What is the importance of accounting for people?

There are many reasons why roll calls are important and are so prevalent throughout society. Roll calls are used in places such as classrooms, and camps so that the caregivers of un-accounted for people can be asked to explain their child’s non-attendance. Most educational frameworks appreciate the fundamental principle that attending class is a prerequisite to learning – and so the roll-call is also used as a method of tracking attendance and using that data to identify gaps in a student’s learning standards.

The military and law enforcement are the kings of roll calls and, while their reasons may differ, typically uniform attire, weapons inspection, and task assignment are top of the list. Prisons, on the other hand, roll call to ensure no one is missing – or more to the point – no one has removed themselves from the comfy confines of their prison cell.

Dangerous workplace environments demand frequent roll calls. Think about the mining industry with its visual roll call of dog tags. They have dog-tags on display on an ‘in mine’ board. However, roll calls also invade other areas of our society, even into politics.

By the standing rules of the United States Senate, the quorum may be established by a roll call (quorum call) only and not by any other method, such as headcount. Any senator may demand a roll call at any moment to establish the quorum. Once the request is performed, the quorum is assumed to be present until a senator suggests otherwise. This practice enables the Senate to engage in debate and conduct less controversial business without requiring the physical presence of fifty-one senators in the chamber.

Role calls are essential because people, for multiple reasons, are unaccounted for every day. This brings me to ask the question: “Is there one roll call that all organizations should be able to manage effectively?”

Today, around the world, organizations are likely to face legal challenges from employees and other groups should their security, and health and safety policies and procedures are found not to be up to scratch. Organizations now face a more extensive range of threats, which increases the likelihood of a building or workplace evacuation.

Managing roll-call with OnEvac

In a real-life evacuation event, employees, visitors, and contractors are as likely to take flight from the situation of risk as they are to hang around waiting for the roll call to be completed. But if there is one roll-call event that is crucial to ensuring the safety of people and accounting for their presence – it is the post-evacuation roll call event.

OnEvac allows you to track cleared zones, enables people in your duty of care (employees, visitors, and contractors) to self-verify their safety via SMS, view requests for help, and monitor real-time evacuation progress. The data stored within OnEvac allows first responders, wardens, and safety marshals to have accurate information in an emergency; share critical messages, view real-time verification process, and manually verify the safety of everyone on-site.

OnEvac is a valuable tool that creates seamless evacuation events. You are given the full picture of what is happening in the building as well as up-to-date information of who has marked themselves as safe and who is still in the building.

See how OnEvac can make managing your roll-call more effective today.

We’re ISO-27001 certified. Here’s why it was worth it

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Are you a cloud-based service looking into getting ISO-27001 certification? Are you wondering about the process, the benefits, and whether it’s worth it?

There are a lot of articles about ISO-27001 written by security and compliance consultancy firms, but there’s not much out there about what it’s actually like from the perspective of an organization going through the process.

This was something we thought was lacking when we were doing our research, so we thought – why don’t we share our first-hand account?

This blog post addresses some of the big questions we had before making a decision.

Why become ISO-27001 certified?

After completing our GDPR compliance requirements prior to its implementation in May 2018 we decided to pursue ISO-27001 certification.

We realized that in an ever-evolving security landscape, our customers were becoming more and more stringent in their procurement process. With major security breaches such as the Dropbox incident in 2016 (which led to the leaking of 68 million user passwords) and the iCloud leak of more than 500 private celebrity photos in 2014, organizations are much more aware of the security risks of using cloud-based services.

Prospective customers were beginning to ask us detailed and specific questions about our security management processes. One question that kept coming up was “Are you ISO 27001-certified?” We knew many of our competitors were attaining SOC 2, but direct customer feedback was telling us that ISO-27001 was more important for our particular service and market niche: we serve many international enterprises, and ISO is more globally applicable than SOC 2. This, of course, is something that your organization needs to weigh up.

How long does it take to get ISO-27001 certified? 

We found it really difficult to find an answer to this online – and now it’s very clear why. It really does completely depend on your organization. We had read everything from a couple of months to more than a year. It took us 18 months.

There were a few factors that stretched the process out for us:

  • We are a relatively small team, and we did not have a dedicated person working on this full-time, so our IT and Security departments were working on ISO over and above BAU.
  • We also decided to address and meet every control as outlined in Annex A of the standard, including things that were not necessarily risks for us. This was a decision to be completely thorough and follow best practice. Some organizations might not choose to do this.

ISO 27001 is very resource hungry on your teams, and when you are trying to focus on growth, ISO can seem like a distraction. But it is not. It is an essential part of our DNA and creates opportunities for growth in your people, your culture, and your customer footprint.

– Darren Whitaker-Barnett, CEO

Is ISO-27001 certification worth the time, energy and cost?

For us, becoming ISO 27001-certified was absolutely worth it. Even despite the fact that we had contracts that were contingent upon our eventual certification, this was a sound business decision for so many reasons.

This process has been great for building customer confidence. And it lowers the barriers to sale when we are interacting with potential customers. For many of them, it’s a must. And for the others, it’s a huge bonus.

– Andrew Thompson, Chief Security Officer

Business benefits for us include…

  • Having a solid foundation to pursue other security certifications or attestations, such as SOC 2
  • Establishing a strong security culture throughout our organization
  • Living and breathing our vision to become the most trusted people presence management system in the market
  • Further establishing our brand as the top choice for enterprise-level organizations
  • Potential cost savings in the long run that come from having a sound information security management system

Being ISO 27001-certified allows us to speak confidently about our security practices because we know we’re following international best practice. That’s the best value you can possibly offer from a security perspective.

– Tom Peck, Chief Technology Officer

What is the ISO-27001 certification process like?

We engaged Axenic, a security consultancy agency, to assess our current state of security, conduct internal audits and assist us on the path to certification (getting us ready for external audit and assessment – which was ultimately conducted by a third party auditor from BSI).

It was the right decision to engage a security and compliance consultant. We couldn’t have done this without Lisa [from Axenic].

– Tom Peck, Chief Technology Officer

Firstly, Axenic conducted a gap analysis using the Framework in conjunction with Annex A of ISO/IEC 27001 to create a Current Profile. As we mentioned earlier, we decided to implement everything in Annex A – even things that were not risks to our business/security processes – this was a business decision to follow best practice.

After this, we conducted a risk assessment. This report identified which controls were there and did not need improvement, which controls were already there but did need improvement, and which controls needed to be implemented from scratch. These are “risks” and are categorized as either low, moderate or critical.

Originally, we identified 35 risks. We achieved certification with only 7 areas of concern (though none enough to be a nonconformity).

The process was not complicated, but we certainly had no idea how extensive or time-consuming it would be.

– Andrew Thompson, Chief Security Officer

What kind of ongoing maintenance does it require to keep ISO-27001 certification?

ISO-27001 requires consistent management and maintenance. We’ve seen it said that ISO is a lifestyle, and that’s definitely true!

Retention of ISO 27001 certification includes…

  • An annual surveillance audit makes sure you’re on track to managing all outstanding areas of concern
  • A 3-yearly major re-audit will determine your eligibility to retain certification
  • There will be other reports and documentation that requires even more regular review, bi-monthly etc.

Should you get ISO-27001 certified? 

Consider ISO-27001…

  • If you want to serve customers in countries like Japan and India, it’s a legal requirement.
  • If your customer base includes international organizations, ISO-27001 is more widely applicable globally than SOC 2.
  • If your customers include large enterprises, it is good practice, and it removes a barrier when trying to get new customers over the line.

However…

  • If you’re a small company (say, smaller than 20 people), consider that there are many roles that are required of staff over and above BAU, so a small team may not feasibly be able to complete or maintain ISO-27001.
  • If you only service small businesses (who generally are less discerning than larger organizations) ISO-27001 certification is possibly not necessary.

ISO certification has created a ‘security first’ mentality in our office culture; this is an absolute must-have when dealing with customer information.

– Darren Whitaker-Barnett, CEO

Our advice to any organization going through the certification process:

Make sure you’ve got the resources to get through it because it’s not something you can go into half-heartedly. For example, sometimes it will make sense to bring in external experts.

Make sure you’ve brought everyone in the company along on the journey. This requires a big culture shift, so make sure everyone understands why this is important and what the process is like.

Make sure you have enough people to fill the roles required by the standard. We have a relatively small leadership team so with all the roles necessary it might not have been possible to do it if the team were any smaller.

You need someone to really own and drive this process internally. For us, this was our CEO – he was committed to this and really gave it everything. It had his full attention over and above everything else.

Disclaimer:

We are not security or compliance consultancy. Everything outlined in this article is purely our own experience or opinion. Every organization considering ISO-27001 should undertake their own research and gain professional advice before making a decision.

About MRI OnLocation

MRI OnLocation provides people presence management software that monitors the safe and secure movement of people through buildings and work sites. Our powerful, cloud-based solution unites visitor, contractor, employee, and emergency management, enabling organizations to secure their facilities and ensure the safety of every person on-site. Armed with a rich, unified source of people presence information, our users are empowered to make more strategic, data-driven decisions that mitigate risk, reduce overhead costs, and streamline operations. Compliant with ISO:27001 2013 for Information Security Management. MRI OnLocation serves organizations in 42 countries around the world and manages over 60 million secure movements through thousands of locations each year. For more information, visit MRI OnLocation here.

Take the stress out of affordable housing waitlist openings

Posted on by Chris Vroman

How much preparation and hard work go into the opening of your affordable housing waitlist? Maybe this question is already making you feel stressed as you think about the answer. For many public and affordable housing authorities, the process of opening a waitlist is weighty; it’s an “all hands on deck” nightmare scenario that requires the full attention of your organization. Notices need to go out to the public, staff has to prepare for lines that could be thousands of people long, and extra security personnel need to be on-site at all times.

The stress of opening an affordable housing waitlist

This was certainly the case for Housing and Community Development (HCD) in Orange County, Florida. When they opened their affordable housing waitlist in 2002, approximately 25,000 people lined up in order to try and get a spot on the waitlist – some of them had been camping out for days. Applicants had to fill out printed paper forms, and the local police were doing their best to manage the line.

The work didn’t stop after that day, however. The agency needed to manually upload all of the information from the paper forms into a database. A full ten years went by before HCD’s next waitlist opening, and in that time, numerous people were always placing calls to the receptionist’s desk, wanting to make sure they were still on the waitlist.

HCD needed a solution that could help them make opening an affordable housing waitlist easier. Demand for affordable housing has grown significantly, and as such, they needed to open up their waitlist more often, but the sheer amount of work required made that prospect seem too far away.

How to make waitlist openings easier and efficient

When HCD opened their waitlist in 2012, they took a new approach. Instead of trying to operate in the same way they had in 2002, they utilized WaitListCheck, an affordable housing application management software that took the entire process online. As Kim Boettner, Program Development Supervisor at HCD, says, “WaitListCheck unquestionably improved our ability to serve clients in a fair and efficient way.”

Taking the waitlist process online made almost everything easier for both the HCD staff and those wanting to make it onto the list. Applicants didn’t have to wait in a line that was thousands of people long. Instead, they simply had to click on a link, fill out the application in their language of choice, then receive an email confirmation. The whole process took place online, which meant that once applicants were added to the waitlist, they were able to check their status on the list instead of calling the receptionist’s desk. In addition to all of this, HCD used WaitListCheck in a way that would allow a lottery system to ultimately decide which applicants would get added to the list, making the process fairer.

Having the ability to carry out waitlist openings online served as a major boon to the HCD staff. Since first using it for their opening in 2012, HCD has been able to open the list more frequently and with a greater sense of preparedness. For their opening in 2018, they were able to spend approximately 30 days getting more notifications out to more people through flyers, webpage updates, and more. In addition to all this, Administrative Specialists did not have to manually enter data from paper forms after the close of the waitlist.

Want to learn more about WaitListCheck? Read more about HCD’s experience with the waitlist management software.

We are MRI: Achieving strategic goals with a winning culture

Posted on by Chris Vroman

Anyone who’s ever been employed at MRI Software knows that being a part of the MRI family isn’t just about finding a fulfilling profession, it’s about being an integral part of helping MRI achieve its goals. Over the years, we’ve been honored to receive several awards specifically dedicated to MRI’s unique culture, our outstanding workspaces, and how the intersection of those two valuable assets has helped MRI grow into one of the best and biggest real estate software providers on the planet.

Attracting top talent

In 2019, MRI was thrilled to win a NorthCoast 99 Award for the 12th time, which recognizes the best Northeast Ohio workplaces for top talent. Winners of this award participated in a rigorous application process that asked for detailed information on how their organization addresses top-performer attraction, development, and retention. While this is not our first time winning, we are proud to have won this award for so many years.

Cultivating health and wellness

One of the ways that MRI Software attracts top talent is by creating a workplace that encourages a healthy lifestyle. Look no further for proof than our Gold awards for Healthy Workplace from the Healthy Business Council of Ohio, which we have won three times since 2016. MRI employees have access to in-office incentives and a rewards program that promote healthy lifestyles across each and every one of the MRI offices throughout the globe, and these opportunities are reflected in this win.

In the summer of 2019, MRI was also recognized by Aetna’s Workplace Well-being Awards. MRI won both a “Changing the World” Award for workplaces in the Mid-Atlantic region and the “Above and Beyond” Award for general well-being in the workplace across the country. We are proud to accept these awards, and we are committed to continuously treating our employees well to promote excellence in the workplace and to foster a community where kindness, honesty, tolerance, and inclusion are part of the culture.

Our strategy of the “MRI family”

MRI’s commitment to its employees runs even deeper than these few awards suggest. We pride ourselves on creating a culture that encourages employees to work hard and achieve the strategic objectives of this company, and we truly do treat them as extensions of our family. Throughout the past few years, we’ve provided increasingly more avenues for personal and professional growth within the organization. Employees don’t just have “upward mobility” at MRI – they have the opportunity to explore the organization in lateral ways that help them pursue career goals instead of simply climbing a ladder. For example, an employee who starts their career at MRI in Sales is not required to stay there – they have the chance to move into a different department should they choose to down the line.

Volunteering in communities around the globe

As you can probably see, MRI has no desire to chain employees to their desks and demand they work on the same things in their entire time here. Growth means exploring new opportunities, and one of the newest opportunities at MRI is our coordinated volunteer effort that takes place in each MRI location. These volunteer events aren’t just a great way to allow employees to make a difference outside the office, they’re an extension of MRI’s mission to transform the way communities live, work, and play.

Global growth and strategic achievements

The emphasis we place on growth for our employees is a core part of MRI’s cultural identity, and it’s absolutely critical in achieving MRI’s strategic goals of large-scale growth. Our employees are beyond talented, and at MRI, we strive to be not just a place where they can work, but a place where they can excel. As such, our company culture has enabled our employees to bring MRI Software into the places it needs to be to expand its market share.

MRI Software was recently honored with a Dealmakers Award from ACG Cleveland that highlights the exact ways in which MRI has been able to achieve its strategic objectives in the past few years. The expansion we’ve experience – 8,500 enterprise clients, tripling of the size of the business, strengthening our product offerings and capacity for future innovation – has brought MRI Software, the open and connected partner ecosystem we’ve cultivated, and the benefits we provide our employees to 30 locations worldwide and over 170 countries.

While the awards mentioned here have been directed towards our headquarters in Northeast Ohio, the MRI family has expanded well beyond the region. It’s made up of every single one of our employees, whether they be in North America, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia or beyond. Everyone has access to the same opportunities and benefits. We are MRI, and the best is yet to come.

Why it’s important to require multifamily renters insurance

Posted on by Chris Vroman

For multifamily owners and operators, requiring renters insurance is one of the best ways to reduce your exposure to risk. In addition to attracting great residents and maximizing occupancy, multifamily property managers should always be looking for new ways to minimize risk as much as possible, and that includes having a plan in place to protect your residents, your properties, and your multifamily business.

Protect residents

In the event of an apartment fire, weather disaster, or other accident, many residents assume that their landlord is responsible for covering any damage to their personal belongings, which is not correct. Requiring multifamily renters insurance as part of the leasing process not only ensures coverage for each individual unit – it also brings peace of mind to the entire community.

Reduce risk and responsibility for property management

Any personal injuries that occur in a resident’s apartment may result in claims being filed against the landlord, which could require a court appearance for the property management company. Should an apartment fire spread to other units, your residents will require relocation, which would be covered by a renter’s own insurance policy. By requiring a renters insurance policy from day one, then both parties – the property owner and the resident – are protected from incidents like these and can focus on repairing the damage with support from a reliable insurance company.

Close the insurance gap

Requiring renters insurance can prevent serious financial trouble for the business. In the event of a disaster, multifamily property owners still have to pay a deductible in order for their insurance company to cover building repair costs. For example, if a resident accidentally starts a fire in their apartment, the resident’s rental insurance policy will cover the deductible, which can save multifamily properties a significant amount of money per claim.

A selling point for your community

Requiring renters insurance can go a long way in attracting the right tenants. Prospects often want to live in a community where risk is proactively managed, and if they know that there’s a system in place to ensure that each resident is protected, that can make them feel as though your properties are a safe and secure place to live. In addition to this level of prospect reassurance, requiring multifamily renters insurance can help you determine whether or not a prospect is likely to remain current with their rent payments. Renters insurance plans are usually inexpensive, and prospective tenants who aren’t willing to pay the low monthly premium for insurance may not be the most reliable in paying their rent.

How to require multifamily renters insurance for your property

How can a multifamily owner or operator actually require that of their renters? MRI Software now offers an integrated renters insurance compliance program as part of the MRI Living suite of residential solutions. Offering renters insurance via online portals gives MRI clients more options for creating a fully automated system that addresses the preferences and habits of modern renters, and a tightly integrated and intuitive insurance compliance program is crucial for property owners and managers to know their buildings are protected from any risk. Learn more about MRI Multifamily Insurance.