Shredding for Property Management Companies
Property management companies handle a surprising amount of private information.
Rental applications, background checks, leases, copies of driver’s licenses, employment information, bank records, maintenance paperwork, and employee files can all pass through the office.
Some of those records need to be kept for years. Others are only needed for a short time.
Either way, when a document reaches the end of its useful life, tossing it into the recycling bin probably isn’t the best way to finish the job.
Rental Applications Contain a Lot of Personal Information
Think about what a prospective tenant may provide when applying for an apartment or rental home.
There’s usually a full name, previous addresses, phone number, employment history, income information, references, and sometimes Social Security or other identification information.
And that’s before the person even becomes a tenant.
Once someone moves in, the file continues to grow with leases, payment records, correspondence, inspection reports, and other documents.
Even an application from someone who was never approved can contain information that needs to be protected.
Don’t Forget the Everyday Paper
The big tenant files are obvious. The random sheets of paper around the office aren’t.
Employees print emails. Copies get made. Maintenance requests contain tenant information. Accounting reports get printed for meetings. Old rent rolls, invoices, and handwritten notes end up sitting on desks.
Individually, these documents may not look important.
But put them together and they can reveal quite a bit.
A secure shredding container gives employees an easy rule to follow. If a document contains information you wouldn’t want left sitting in a public trash can, put it in the shredding bin.
Move-Out Doesn’t Mean Throw Everything Away
When a tenant moves out, it’s tempting to clean out the file and move on.
Some records, however, may need to be retained for legal, accounting, or business reasons. Property managers should have a clear retention policy that determines what needs to be kept and for how long.
Once that retention period has passed, securely destroying the records helps prevent old files from piling up indefinitely.
It also frees up storage space, which is never a bad thing.
Recurring Shredding Can Make the Process Almost Automatic
For a busy property management office, shredding shouldn’t become another project on someone’s to-do list.
Locked shredding containers can stay in the office so employees have a secure place for documents they’re finished with. Then, on a regular schedule, the material can be collected and destroyed.
For older archives, a one-time purge can take care of years of accumulated tenant files at once.
Both approaches are a lot easier than asking an employee to spend an afternoon feeding paper through an office shredder.
BestShred Helps Utah Property Managers Securely Destroy Confidential Records
At BestShred, we provide onsite document shredding for property management companies, apartment communities, landlords, and other Utah businesses.
We can help with a one-time cleanout of old tenant files or provide recurring shredding service for the confidential paperwork your office generates every day.
BestShred is NAID/i-SIGMA AAA Certified, providing independent assurance that confidential documents are handled and destroyed according to established industry standards.
Your tenants trust you with more than the keys to their home.
They trust you with their personal information too.
When you no longer need it, make sure it’s securely destroyed.