3 Tips For House Hacking Safely

No matter if you’re house hacking a duplex, single-family home, or apartment building – creating a safe space for yourself and tenants is a top priority. While most new landlords don’t think much about safety, as someone who has been a landlord for several years – I recommend thinking about this from day #1.

So, in this post, I’m going to share some insight into how to house hack safely and what I did when I was house hacking to make myself, my wife, and my tenants feel safe.

1. Change the locks

When I purchased my house hacking property, it came with a tenant that didn’t have a lease agreement. The property owner at the time didn’t have much control over the property and, basically, let tenants do whatever they wanted. This led to my tenant having a keypad lock that only she knew for one door and none of the keys I received from the previous landlord worked.

Thankfully, my inherited tenant is a good person and I was able to sort everything out with no problems. But, this situation had the potential to turn into a major hassle.

With that said, one of the first tasks you should complete as the owner of a new property is to change the locks. Because there’s no way for you to know how many keys the previous owner had made (and who has those keys) – it’s best to start fresh with a brand-new set (preferably one key for all doors/locks)

There are 2 different ways you can go about doing this:

• Have the current locks re-keyed by a professional locksmith
• Replace the locks completely with a new set

Have the current locks re-keyed by a locksmith

If your property has high-quality locks installed that look nice and work fine, you might not have a reason to want to change them. In situations like that, I recommend calling a professional locksmith and having them come out to re-key your locks.

I’ve found that the price associated with this can be more expensive than replacing the locks completely (if you DIY it) but is a great option compared to having a professional locksmith come out and replace them (which is usually more expensive).

Replace the locks completely with a new set

If your property has low-quality locks, colors that don’t go well aesthetically, or a massive mix of lock types/brands/styles – I’d recommend replacing the locks completely with a new set. Whenever I look at a potential rental property and see a mix of different lock colors and styles – it screams “patch” job to me (aka low-quality work).

Another thing to consider is the type of property you’re house hacking. For example, if you’re house hacking a single-family home and sharing common living space (you’re basically roommates) – I’d recommend replacing all the locks with a new set and making sure every bedroom has its own locks as well for privacy and security.

If you decide to replace the locks completely, you have 2 different options:

• Replace the locks yourself
• Have the locks replaced by a professional locksmith

Replace the locks yourself

This is the most economic way to go about replacing your locks and the path that I usually take. Although it may sound difficult, replacing the locks completely is usually quick and only requires you to install a few screws per lock. It’s not a big deal if you’re relatively handy.

If you’re planning to replace the locks yourself, I recommend purchasing the Kwikset SmartKey system – which allows you to rekey the locks yourself anytime you’d like. This makes rekeying the locks after a tenant moves out extremely simple.

Have the locks replaced by a locksmith

There’s no doubt that having your locks replaced by a professional locksmith is more expensive than doing it yourself but it comes with several benefits:

• Guaranteed to be working properly
• Doesn’t require you to do any work
• Doesn’t require you to buy any tools or materials
• The locksmith can probably work faster than you can

2. Improve lighting at night

Another important tip for house hacking safely is to make sure the property is well-lit at night. This not only helps you and your tenants be aware of any potential dangers, such as criminals or animals – but it also makes your property less desirable for criminals.

While this study was done in the UK (so the results may be different in the US – and even more so depending on your local area) – it states that “Darkness is a key factor related to robbery events…”

Most rental properties in my area only have lights on the front porch and near the back door. This leaves a lot of areas surrounding the property in darkness. And even though the neighborhood will have the biggest impact on how safe you are at any given time, there are criminals everywhere.

By making your property more lit, you reduce the chances of a criminal targeting you, your tenants, or your property – especially when compared to your neighbors who only have a front porch and back door light.

Here are a few ideas for improving lighting at night

• If you have a garage, install a motion-sensor flood light that shines brightly over a portion of your yard
• Install solar-powered lighting in any location that receives enough sun
• Install battery-powered lights (like this one) in locations that are important but don’t have electricity nearby and don’t get enough sun

3. Know your tenants & set rules

Not only is this an important tip for house hacking, but it’s also an important tip for landlords in general. Knowing your tenants when house hacking is extremely important because you’re going to be sharing a space with them. If there’s a white van parked in the driveway that you’ve never seen before that looks suspicious, are you going to call the police? If you lived by yourself, sure. But since you’re house hacking – it could be your tenant (or a guest of your tenant)

This is where knowing your tenant and having a good relationship with them comes in handy. For example, anytime my tenant would have guests over in unfamiliar vehicles – she’d let me know ahead of time, especially at night, so that I wouldn’t worry. And even though I’m the landlord and “can do what I want”, I would extend that same courtesy by letting her know if there were people coming by to work on the property or if unfamiliar vehicles/people would be at the property.

I never asked her to let me know anything regarding guests but I appreciated that she did. And since it’s likely that your tenant won’t be as courteous – you may need to set rules (that you put in the lease agreement) to help keep everyone safe.

Here are some rules you could set that could help safety:

• Tenant’s guest must park on the street
• Tenants must notify the landlord ahead of time for parties/events
• There can be no non-functioning vehicles on the property (prevents theft and potential for attracting criminals)
• Every new tenant must fill out a “tenant welcome sheet” with all of their information (name, date of birth, preferred contact number/email, vehicle license plate, etc..). Although this information should be on your rental application as well – it doesn’t hurt to have it easily accessible in a new document.

Final thoughts

House hacking comes with a lot of new responsibilities (like learning how to manage your rental property) but learning how to make the experience safer for you and your tenants is always a top priority.

The tips I’ve shared with you in this post are just the beginning. Your property and neighborhood will have it’s own unique challenges that you’ll have to overcome if you want to be successful. The longer you house hack in that specific property, the more you’ll learn and be able to make your property desireable and enjoyable to live in.

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