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How to Keep the Peace Among Tenants

Landlord Advice

If you have been a landlord before, you know how much peace is an important element to maintain in your property. Both the peace maintained between you and your tenants and the peace among your tenants. As the landlord, you want your property to always stay in good condition, otherwise there would rise a disagreement if something injurious happened to your property and you were sure it was the fault of your tenant. You also want to have all your tenants pay their rent in time, lest they attract high penalties which they take ages to pay.

Tenants on the other hand, have different needs, likes and dislikes and they have to stay together harmoniously despite their differences. There are those who like loud music, those who prefer quiet serene environment, those who noisily fix their damaged or faulty items after job or perhaps when others are taking their sweet time to relax after a long day, those who love pets, those who hate animals with passion, those who are lazy and never seem to remember where to dump their waste and others who don’t care how much harm they are causing with their untidy and dirty veranda. A lot happens in there and despite this, there has to be peaceful interactions if at all you want to save your tenants and also yourself a lot of headache.

For the purpose of this post, let’s discuss how to manage peace among tenants.

Have clear lines of communication

This does not only apply to your relationships with your tenants, but also among the tenants. If you open lines of communication between your tenants and yourself, they will feel free to pass any complain to you instead of handling it on their own, which in most cases may widen the drift between the tenants. Do the tenants know what is rightful for them? Do they understand when to do what? Like when to take their waste bins outside for the cleaners to pick them up? If they already know this from you, they will see it rightful for them to bring their grievances to you in case a fellow tenant defaults such. This way you will know what troubles them and you can deal with the problem by facing the tenant who causes it.

Stay objective with your tenants

Remember what brings you together with all your tenants is an agreement which every one of them signed to live by. Your relationship with all tenants is at the same level. Don’t be good to some and too harsh to others. Its human nature to favor those he likes and turn a deaf ear to those he doesn’t like. However, in this case, it is wise for you to avoid being subjective when dealing with tenants disagreements. When a certain tenant brings a complaint to you about another one whom you always like because he never delays his rent payment, and you ignore him, you are creating a recipe for a disaster. Listen objectively and deal with the problem from its root cause, without being biased based on who you like most.

Be clear on pets

Do you allow your tenants to keep pets in your premises? If you do, let every tenant entering your premise know so that they don’t get surprised to meet them in the compound. On the part of the pet owner, let him know that his pet shouldn’t pose any danger to his fellow tenants, and if it did he would be the one responsible for the liability caused by it. If the tenants are arguing because of that pet, establish whether any of the tenants has defaulted the agreement on pets in your property. If yes, deal with the person responsible for the problem. For example, if a tenant’s dog bites his neighbor, let him take the responsibility of treating him and discuss on how the pet shouldn’t pose danger to others in future, even if that means replacing it or giving it away for taming.

Warn the tenant disrupting the others peace

Warning letters were never meant for employees or students who lacked the right discipline. They are also applicable to tenants. For example, if your tenants complain of loud music from a neighbor who never understands that some people prefer it quiet, give him a warning letter. That one tenant you don’t want to face may cost you a lot! What if all the others leave because of him? Will he get you other tenants? Be formal and present him a warning letter, expecting him to change lest he gets evicted.

Evict the stubborn peace disruptor.

Sometimes the solution is evicting the person causing nuisance. For example, if he is the tenant who sells out the other tenants to robbers, (and you are sure of that from tangible evidence), it wise that he leaves your premises. This won’t only save your tenants from insecurities but also you from the fears that they will destroy your property next time they attack your tenants. Also, an already warned tenant who doesn’t change should be evicted from your promises.

Disagreements among tenants are almost inevitable. They will occur in one way or the other. Next time your tenants are not living peacefully due to different factors, try the above approaches. They may save both you and your tenants a lot of headache and restore peace in your premises.