How to solve common apartment parking problems

Table of contents

1. What is multifamily apartment parking management
2. The problem with multifamily parking lots
3. How to deal with with apartment parking issues
4. Optimize multifamily parking lots

Managing apartment parking lots is a crucial part of property management. Unfortunately, in many cases, apartment building managers currently use outdated methods for parking management. This causes unnecessary work, inefficiency, and lost revenue.

Fortunately, there are many solutions you can take advantage of to help improve tenant experience, save time, and generate revenue from apartment parking lots.

What is multifamily apartment parking management?

Multifamily spaces are buildings with more than one unit. Whereas multiple households can all be housed under the same overarching roof. Apartment buildings are a classic example of these, although duplexes also fall under this term. Multifamily parking lots are, for example, the apartment parking lot where the residents of the building park their vehicles overnight.

Multifamily parking management is the process of optimizing and streamlining apartment parking lots to ensure that tenants are happy. In the process, costs are reduced where possible, access is granted to the appropriate people, and revenue is generated.

The problem with multifamily apartment parking lots

Managing guests

Guests to apartment parking lots are normal and should be easy to manage so that tenants don’t feel restricted in their options for having visitors. At the same time, it’s crucial to maintain the safety of the parking lot. Ensuring tenants aren't losing their allotted spaces to visitors. When policing registration and monitoring are introduced, visitor parking can add up to be a huge drain on resources.

Empty apartment parking spaces

Apartment parking lots take up space and often are leased or bought. This makes every inch a valuable commodity that should be fully utilized. Having empty spaces is a waste of money, but empty spots are common when tenants don't have a vehicle, are on vacation, or are car-sharing. Therefore, making the most of parking lot space is crucial.

Bad for the environment

Remember when you drove circles around a parking lot looking for an elusive spot? This is not just frustrating, it’s also bad for the environment. In fact, a single driver could reduce their emissions by 227 kilograms per year if they never had to search for a parking space. However, many apartment parking lots don’t have a solution to the “searching for a spot” problem.

Another important consideration is electric vehicles. EVs are the future of lower carbon emissions, and apartment complexes can introduce charging stations to make greener buildings.

Bad for the bottom line

Multifamily parking management as it stands today is leaving money on the table. With parking spaces being left vacant, inefficient booking systems, poor visitor parking systems, and unhappy tenants, apartment parking lots are a drain on the bottom line.

How to deal with apartment parking issues

Improve security

Ensure that tenants and their vehicles are safe. To do this, you can restrict access to tenants and unauthorized guests. Parking software gives you and your tenants an easy way to control accessibility to apartment parking lots, making multifamily parking management easier and safer.

Enhance tenant experience

Giving tenants easy-to-use technology that increases their control and makes their lives easier is the ultimate way to ensure they have a great experience. For example, parking apps give them flexibility and control, allowing them to access and reserve long or short-term parking spots.

Tenants can also manage their parking permits and update their registration details. They can even release their reserved spots to other tenants for a space of time while they’re on vacation. This ensures that all space is used efficiently.

Generate revenue

Switching from free to paid parking is an excellent way to generate revenue. Not only is renting out parking lots a simple concept that happens worldwide, but parking software can make the transition simple. Parking management software is perfect for apartment parking lots because it makes multifamily parking payments easy to manage for property managers and simple to do for tenants. Tenants can easily set up their preferred payment methods and pay right from the app, keeping headaches and complexity to a minimum.

Simplify admin

Multifamily parking management doesn’t have to be a full-time job with parking software because it does the hard graft for you. Automated infringements, visitor management and space allocation (and many other handy features) can reduce parking admin by up to 93%.

Reduce carbon footprint

Parking software streamlines the parking process so that people always know when and where they have parking available to them. They can book their parking space ahead of time, driving right to it with no idling or searching. This contributes to sustainability goals by reducing the number of cars endlessly circling the block (or your parking lot).

In fact, 30-40% of urban congestion is caused by drivers searching for a place to park, a problem caused by the lack of visibility of parking availability.

Another great way of being the future of sustainability is to integrate electric vehicle chargers. EV chargers in apartment parking lots are an important tool to boost EV adoption. They also in the process make apartment parking lots more attractive to potential tenants. A bonus of these machines is that you can even profit from their use. Parking management software can also integrate with your chargers to simplify management, bookings and billing.

Optimize multifamily parking lots

Effective parking management systems are critical for property managers so you can focus on improving operations and keeping tenants happy. Parking management software is the ultimate way to ensure tenants are safe and happy while increasing revenue and reducing apartment parking lot worries.

Talk to us about ways to improve parking management at your complex.