Tenant complaints

If you’ve been a landlord for some time now, then you would agree that one of your most common and constant problems would be complaints from your tenants. Whether you are running a set of apartments, or a set of commercial spaces doesn’t matter, for as long as you have tenants, you will always have to deal with their complaints.

Tenant complaints can vary by degrees – from simple leaks in the shower to broken heating systems, and even their neighbor’s “Fido” constantly barking all day and all night. No matter what the complaint may be, you need to be able to address and handle them fast and effectively, lest you are ready to lose business.

There are different ways of handling tenant complaints, but the general and underlying principles are all the same:

Listen

When a tenant complains about something, it is always in your best interest to listen. Some landlords make the mistake of ignoring simple problems thinking that the tenant can always make do, or deal with the problem on their own. This is never a good practice, since this will make it look like you don’t care about your property and your tenant at all.

Document

No matter how simple the complaint may seem, always be sure document it. This will give you a solid copy of the complaint, which can be used for a variety of purposes, especially legal ones. You can write up a simple complaint form or an incident report for the tenant to fill out, or use doc files and save them in your computer for printing later on.

Act

All the listening and documenting will be useless if you don’t take action on our tenant’s complaints. When a tenant complains of a leaking faucet, call the plumber and have it fixed. If they complain about a noisy neighbor, take the time to talk to that neighbor without naming the complainant and remind them of any rule they may be breaking in the contract. By acting and solving the problem now, you will be able to avoid any conflict, and hopefully any more complaints in the future.

As a businessperson, we are aware that our tenants are the lifeblood of our business – after all, their money is our income. By dealing with tenant complaints quickly and appropriately, we can ensure continuous business and income for ourselves.