Topic: How is everyone handling people that are cuckoo for cocopuffs and continually make complaints.

I’ve seen this before hadn’t really absorbed all the opinions. How is everyone handling people that are cuckoo for cocopuffs and continually make complaints. We all know the type. They seem like normal people their complaints sometimes might even seem reasonable but then they bring into it a narrative that has intent and purpose of other people that they simply couldn’t possibly discern. it isn’t until you get a multitude of them together that the whole picture becomes exceedingly clear that they are just nuts.

What do you do if you decide to establish a boundary that these simply can’t continue? The only effective way I’ve found to curb them is to clearly communicate to the other person that we we view these as a sole result of their own mental health challenges and not based in ration reality.

While that has proved to be incredibly effective at achieving our goals it doesn’t make us feel good to do it and it obviously makes them feel bad as well. Anyone else have solutions you’ve found effective assuming you also view continuing to deal with irrational complaints as an unacceptable solution. I get that is a solution, but not one that we are willing to entertain.

Can you give us some examples of what you are dealing with

Rosa Duarte people upstairs are following me when I move around in my apartment and intentionally dropping things to intentionally harass me. Or what starts off as a complaint about a noisy bath fan but turns out the real thing is the people upstairs are spying on her in the bath and she knows this because the bath fan got louder after they moved in. How exactly do these examples change how you would respond to achieve our desired goals??? What is a different example that would change how you would respond?? Or you just simply curious about the drama?

I basically dealt with this on a daily basis. I made them record the noise and bring it to me. If it was office hours I actually went to the apt to hear the complaint.

Rosa Duarte in my opinion experience that does not work toward my stated goal in anyway shape or form. That is a burdensome process which simply possibly resolves the singular issue while emboldens future claims as they think you will take them serious. Are you saying your experience is the exact opposite of ours???

Miles Scruggs I respectfully second this entire comment. In my experience, engaging makes the problem much worse and becomes a drain on the team’s already limited time. I don’t have any creative suggestions, just clear and consistent boundaries. We have formulated some general responses that the entire team can use when the next attempts at the complaints arise. There are some geared toward noise complaints, some for stalking accusations, etc. We have found that when there is a consistent refusal to engage by the entire team, the behavior lessens. More often than not it seems to resolve itself and the resident moves, I’ve always assumed to the next place where they initially receive the attention they are seeking.

You will not get rid of people who constantly complain unless you personallyDeal with it head on. These people who complain thought I wouldn’t get involved once I did it eventually stopped.

Rosa Duarte I’ve got involved before but the only thing that resolved was the case at hand and it would continue until it was clear to them that I considered them crazy.

We always just had a canned response of "hm we'll certainly look into that for you." If they followed up and wanted to know what we did / why it wasn't resolved "we've resolved it to the best of our ability." Repeat, repeat, repeat. Don't argue or engage in the conversation as that will just fuel future interactions. There was only one time I had a resident whos mental health I was concerned about and I called her emergency contact and recommended a wellness check. Most importantly, if you're legally able to, NON-RENEW. Do not set yourself up for another year of this.

Hope Cook well actually we’ve had pretty success once they know we view crazy as crazy. This is a narrow band of people that aren’t completely out to lunch but have some isolated minor quirks though. Complete out to lunch and we have to non renew for sure if they are causing issues.

Miles what position do you hold? Management of apartments?

Rosa Duarte yes.

Miles Scruggs manager?

Rosa Duarte I own the firm. I typically only deal with escalated issues and advise.

Is there a reason why your manager is not dealing with this issue? If this becomes a big issue I would call the emergency contact regarding this. Did they complain about the previous resident? Is this resident new? It’s like a puzzle you just have to put the pieces together. Where are you located

Rosa Duarte This isn't some unique singular case that we are finding insurmountable. We have a solution that works in this narrow band, we just aren't completely content with it and looking for other options that are consistently effective. I'm really confused what at all gives you the impression that the managers aren't dealing with the issues??? The managers do deal with the issues but it does become a topic of office conversation of what alternative tactics are effective. These aren't on going issues with the same people as they either resolve or we remove them. Typically this sort of person is very lucid and the issues are imperceptible until after they move in. As they are still highly functional their emergency contacts won't do much more than empathize which isn't really productive beyond simply confirming.You seem to be confusing what I'm asking as if we can't solve the problem. The problem is easily and trivially solvable, we simply aren't completely content with the solutions that we've found to be effective. Not at all looking for someone to help problem solve specific unique cases but more hearing from others that have been in similar situations that have found solutions that leave both parties feeling better about themselves and also achieved the goals.

Miles Scruggs good luck to you

I've experienced neighbors with legitimate mental health issues and the strange, scary, and loud behavior the accompanies it. I complained to my (private party) landlord who had no clue how to handle it. Eventually, the neighbor's family reached out to the landlord and they performed a well being check. After the family got involved, things improved. The landlord non-renewed the neighbor, which is what I would recommend doing.

There have been residents in the building I manage who have mental illnesses. Contacting the family and non-renewal are the most effective ways of dealing with this behavior.

When I had complainers like that, it usually meant they were guilty of something, themselves. I had one who complained about everyone around her, then complained about her ac constantly. Maint swore on everything holy it was fine. Long story-short, she had family staying with her and didn't know how do lock them out and wanted to transfer (+they had bed bugs). Another complained about everyone around her throwing trash on the ground, not picking up after their pets, loitering. Turns out her neighbors were confronting her about parking in the handicap spot without a tag. But she swore she deserved it cuz "her feet hurt and she's old" (her words) Oh, and another complained that the sidewalk was too cracked and made random complaints about people that live on her sidewalk route because she wanted us to assign her a spot in the back where residents illegally parked. I've had a few complainers like that, and it usually means they're trouble.

I try to explain what’s within my control and what isn’t but a non-renewal is the next best thing

We have a resident that almost mirrors the complaints you have listed. She had a brain tumor. We gave her a written list of her options and reference it every time she complains: move with out penalties , see if noise canceling headphones work, transfer to a top floor, come into the rec room to use her phone so they can’t tap her phone, open her mail in the rec room, etc. She is stuck based on disability and the low rent she pays until she comes up on another low income waiting list. We did our due diligence in checking to see if the issue was real and we document all interactions. It has been ongoing for years, and any new person at the office gets suckered in at first. Unfortunately these situations just don’t go away unless the resident moves.

a few options come to mind. 1 call their emergency contact, 2 offer to let them out of their lease if they are unhappy, 3 as a last resort send them a no renew.