Hypochondriacal Tenants and the Case of the Mysterious Complaints in Pocatello

As a Pocatello property owner, you may have already come across one of the more difficult parts of the role: the overly demanding renter. While a lot of tenant complaints should be dealt with in a productive and professional manner, you could come face to face with a renter who voices complaints about everything, making frequent, perhaps even unreasonable requests. If these complaints are all related to health problems, your tenant may be a hypochondriac, also known as somebody who agonizes from illness anxiety.

A person with hypochondria is someone who experiences obsessive and negative thoughts about their own health. They tend to have an abundance of concerns, do a lot of reading and researching on health-related subject matters and may perceive their surroundings as threatening or hazardous for their health. Many of their excessive or unreasonable complaints may be generated from these behaviors and anxieties.

Dealing with a hypochondriac can be a difficult process; they have a hard time managing their own urges and may seek constant reassurance about any number of things, which often takes the form of a complaint. They may ask you to inspect things for them, trying to associate you with a form of coping mechanism for their anxieties.

The paramount thing to do when approaching a tenant who agonizes over illness anxiety is first, to ensure that the home they have leased is properly maintained. Then, it’s high-priority to introduce (and monitor perpetually) firm guidelines about when, how, and how often they can contact you. To manage repair requests and other complaints, it’s a good solution to force your renter to do so in writing. This helps by designing a paper trail of each complaint (and your response) in the event of a dispute and may even shoot down on the number of appeals they generate.

Granted it’s perplexing,  but it is important to stay courteous and professional and to remind yourself that you are not obligated to come running every time your tenant requests. As long as you are hopeful that the Pocatello rental property is being regularly and properly maintained, it’s advisable to reassure the renter that you will handle the situation, but depending on what it is, that you will likely attend to it at a later date. You may also want to remind the tenant about any relevant lease terms, terms that should justify which concerns should go to the renter and which applies to the property owner to circumvent misunderstanding or deluding hopes.

Supervising difficult tenant relations can be one of the least enjoyable portions of a landlord’s job. Why not let the professional property managers at Real Property Management Pocatello govern it for you? We will ensure that your property is regularly maintained to help alleviate any concerns. We will also manage tenant complaints, clarify and set lease terms, and handle communication between you and your renters in a professional and timely manner. By doing this, we’ll have you open to dedicating yourself on other things. Would you like to know more about how we can assist you? Please contact us online or call us at 208-234-1000 for more information.