Rant: Found one weird trick for tenant drama - just wait them out

After 6 years managing a 40-unit building in Austin, I started ignoring every noise complaint for 72 hours and 90% of them never came back up.

3 comments

3 Comments

milam4819d ago

First property I managed was a 50-year-old building in Houston. Tried the same thing with a guy who called every Thursday night about the upstairs neighbor "moving furniture." Told him I'd check it out Monday morning. Called back Saturday to say he figured out it was just his cat knocking over his laundry hamper. Now I do a 48-hour cool down on most complaints unless it's a leak or something on fire. Saves me from chasing ghosts about 80% of the time. People get over most things if you give them a day or two.

margareto2618d ago

Hold on, I gotta disagree here. This "48-hour cool down" thing just sounds like a way to avoid doing your job. What if that noise ISN'T just a cat? What if it's something like the neighbor drilling holes at midnight or having a party every night? Your system forces the tenant to put up with it for two days for no good reason. I'd be pretty annoyed if I paid rent and the landlord told me to just wait it out. Not every complaint is a ghost chase, some people have real issues with loud neighbors that need to be handled RIGHT AWAY. You might be saving yourself some phone calls but you're also teaching tenants that you don't really care about their peace and quiet.

jason_lewis318d ago

Oh man, that cat story cracked me up. I've definitely been that guy who convinced myself the neighbor was building furniture just to realize it was my own trash can. Now I just wait until I'm annoyed three times before I even mention it to anyone.