As a Cranberry Township property owner, you may have experienced one of the more challenging factors of owning a property: the demanding renters. While many tenant complaints should be addressed in a productive and professional manner, you might stumble upon a renter who will voice complaints concerning everything and creating unreasonable requests frequently. If these complaints are all pointing to health-related problems, your tenant may be a hypochondriac, also identified as someone who suffers from illness anxiety.
A person with hypochondria is someone who experiences obsessive and negative thoughts about their own health. They typically have several concerns, do a lot of reading and investigation on health-related reports, and may see their surroundings as threatening or risky to their health. Lots of their excessive or unreasonable complaints may arise from these behaviors and fears.
Dealing with a hypochondriac can be a baffling job; they have a hard time managing their own urges and may seek constant reassurance about everything around them. This can often come off in the form of a complaint. They may continually ask you to tend to things for them, trying to acquire you as sort of a coping mechanism for their anxieties.
The best way to handle a tenant with an anxiety illness is first, to make sure that the household they have rented is properly maintained. Then, determine (and follow consistently) firm guidelines about when, where, and how often they can reach you. With managing repair requests and other complaints, the best way is to have your renter to do so in writing. This will help by creating a paper trail of each complaint (and your responses) in the event of a dispute and it may even decrease the number of requests they are making.
Although difficult at times, make sure to stay courteous and professional and it’s important to remember that you are not required to come running every time your tenant calls. If you are confident that your Cranberry Township rental property is being regularly and properly maintained, it’s best to reassure the resident that you will handle the situation, but depending on what it is, will address it at a later date. Also, you may need to remind the tenant about any relevant lease terms, particularly those that spell out which responsibilities belong to the resident and which belong to the property owner to avoid any false expectations or confusion.
Handling difficult tenants can be on of the least delightful parts of being a landlord. At Real Property Management Three Rivers we understand this and are here to make it a little easier for you. Our team of professional property managers will ensure that your property is regularly maintained to help alleviate any resident concerns and will manage resident complaints, clarify and set lease terms, and handle communication with the resident and with you in a professional and timely manner. By doing so, we’ll leave you free to focus on other things. Would you like to know more about how we can help you? Please contact us online or call us at 724-804-8254 for more information.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
