I currently live on site as the community manager/owner. I’ve noticed a pattern that when someone is upset with another resident they rush over to my home (all hours). They are usually visibly upset and most times I feel I’m just someone to vent to.
It’s not fun to be woken up at 2 AM and be told: “so-and-so just pulled up and slammed their front door…”
Is the future manager ‘on call’ in the middle of the night for non-emergency complaints such as slamming a door shut, playing music, a couple arguing, etc?
If not, what should residents be advised to do in these types of situations?
“I bought a park once where the tenants had been terrorizing the former owner, calling
him at home at all hours of the day or night complaining that the neighbor was making
too much noise, etc. This owner had let the tenants run all over him, and in doing so he
had empowered them to get the feeling that they owned the park and he was their
servant. When I took over, I got sick of these people almost immediately. I told anyone
that called in that obviously they weren’t happy and that they needed to find a new place
to move their trailer. Of course, it costs thousands to move a trailer, and pretty soon the
roles changed and I became the boss, constantly threatening to have them move out.”
I’m an on site manager/owner as well and you have to set boundaries. Management prior to us allowed tenants to contact them all hours of day and night. We set office hours and have verbiage in our rules that tenants must respect office hours, only contact us outside of office hours if it’s a true community emergency (i.e. broken water pipe at the main). Tenants now know that if they call during non-office hours, the phone won’t be answered (I listen to messages to make sure it’s not an emergency) and if they come banging on my door after office hours for a non emergency they will receive an earful and a violation notice. Disputes between tenants are not my problem unless it becomes a community issue. Tenants are told to talk to their neighbors and call 911 if the situation calls for it. They learned quickly and our nights and weekends are peaceful. Tell them that the extra time and energy it took for them to come to your house and complain could’ve been avoided if they just went and talked to their neighbor respectfully and asked them to be a bit more quiet closing their door when they come home late.
This was a major issue for me when I first purchased my first park. I did not liv on-site but I did self manage. I solved it very quickly by doing the following:
I immediately let the tenant know that I am not a mediator and will not get involved in personal disputes
I let them know that if they feel in danger they need to call the police immediately
I let them know that they need to get it resolved quickly because if it causes a disturbance in the park, both parties will not have their leases renewed and will be required to leave (assuming they are month to month)
I cannot say if this is the only or the best solution but after multiple episodes of this and my consistent response, I received no more of these type issues. I did evict a tenant who was involved in one of these squabbles for multiple reasons but I believe it was interpreted by the other tenants as me keeping my word that anyone causing disturbances will be removed. Regardless, the worse possible scenario is to get involved, and worse yet take sides. If you provide an answer when these situations arise they will continue indefinitely. If you insist they solve the problem themselves and stipulate there will be negative consequences if they do not, they will most likely stop coming to you. If there is someone who seems to be involved with every squabble in the park, it is best to remove them. They tend to be a cancer that spreads to everyone.