Newer tenant is concerned about security--need advice

[Shari Posey]

We have a young single woman who is a tenant in one of our properties who moved in fall 2012. She's a nice tenant and responsible. There was an incident a few nights ago when a big fight broke out on the street in front of the house and in the area. She says her boyfriend opened the door to see if everyone was o.k. and they got threatened. She called 911 but the police just drove by without stopping. (I called the police dept to complain but they have no record of her 911 call and no other neighbhors called. However, I talked to one of the neighbors and they said it was a very loud fight caused by some young people drinking.)

Now she is very nervous and is having a hard time sleeping at night and has asked us to implement some security measures.

I'm not sure what to do as she hasn't lived there long and I'm not sure she is likely to stay no matter what we do. Before she signed the lease, we let her know it is an urban area where incidents do happen. 99% of the time it's very quiet and lots of original owners live there but she experienced that 1% when there is trouble on Friday.

We can install security doors but we have 3 specially sized doors so the cost will be about $800 each. Or we can install an ADT system for about $200 and ask her to pay the monthly fee of $50, or help her pay a portion of it. Or we can ask her if she would prefer to be let out of her lease.

I hesitate to put the security doors on, not only because of the cost but because they are really ugly and our property is really charming. About half the people in the neighborhood have security doors so maybe it's just my own personal dislike of feeling like it's like living in a prison to keep people out.

Any advice? What would you do?

Thanks!