Owning a residential rental property is first and foremost aninvestment. And like any investment, its success depends ongenerating income, or in other words, its ability to attracttenants. With more than 108 million renters in the U.S. and over 22million landlords according to the Rental Protection Agency, it’seasy to see why property owners and landlords need to identifypotential hazards for tenants and guests, and address themaccordingly.

The National Multifamily Housing Council says more than 43million households or 35% are renter-occupied. The largest segmentof renters, 17%, are 30 years of age or younger. The cities withthe largest number of renters include: New York, N.Y.; Los Angeles,Calif.; Chicago, Ill.; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pa.; andPhoenix, Ariz. The majority of renters (43%) live insingle-family homes and 35% of renters live in structures with fiveor more units.

Nothing attracts and retains renters like a reputation for beinga safe and secure place to live. Successful landlords and theirproperty managers know that maintaining safe premises is an ongoingprocess of reducing risk. The following 10 practices serve as agood starting place.