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Abrasive tenant towards PM in condo

kfort

kfort

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Hi folks, I was wondering if anyone with more experience with this than I would be willing to "proof read" this note Im sending to the condo corp PM regarding a plumbing/heating issue in the building and my suite. any suggestions are helpful. It`s friday night and I just got an earful from a normally very reserved PM regarding a tenant. Thanks in advance.

Kris


Good evening Mr. Cuelenaere,

I would like to confirm some details following our conversation(s) the last ten days or so about the heating issues in the building at 833 Wollaston Crescent Saskatoon SK. This evening at approximately 7:30 pm you entered the suite at xxx-xxx to investigate an ongoing lack of heating. Prior to this, on November 9th at approximately 5:15 pm you had informed me that there had been a boiler issue requiring maintenance and that it had been a building issue. Follow up occurred that Wednesday November 10th at approximately 5:00 pm where you informed me the problem had been remedied. Please advise me if any of these details are incorrect.

In addition to that, I would like to request confirmation that upon entering the suite on the evening of November 12th at approximately 7:30 pm there was a strong smell of smoke in the suite.

I assure you, tenants have been well instructed on the operation of the heating system prior to their taking possession of the unit. The tenant in this case was also questioned thoroughly prior to my request that the issue be investigated by yourself. I have notified the tenant that ANY further formal complaint regarding smoking in the suite may result in an immediate eviction notice as it is a clear breach of the lease agreement. I use a multiple step screening process which involves requiring prior/present landlord references as well as character and work references. These tenants have been checked thoroughly with all background information being confirmed.

I greatly appreciate your work on this and I would like to formally apologize for the experience you had with my tenant and her demeanor. I assure you, I conduct business in an extremely professional manor and look forward to working with you in the future.

Should you have any questions or concerns at all, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Kris Fortner
 
QUOTE (kfort @ Nov 12 2010, 09:39 PM) Hi folks, I was wondering if anyone with more experience with this than I would be willing to "proof read" this note Im sending to the condo corp PM regarding a plumbing/heating issue in the building and my suite. any suggestions are helpful. It`s friday night and I just got an earful from a normally very reserved PM regarding a tenant. Thanks in advance.

Kris . . .

Hi Kris
Without more knowing more details of events and the reasons you are writing the letter it is difficult to be specific - and I don`t think you need that.

However, as a rule I like to use the `sandwich` approach in a situation such as you seem to have; good news (or compliment etc,) the hard issues or facts, then good news (appreciation, cooperative attitude etc).

The first paragraph you have may evoke a defensive response right away and prevent the other `messages` from getting through, especially if you are trying to maintain a good relationship with the PM and gather `evidence` in the event of tenant problems.

Just my read. Good luck.
 
Thank you for the reply Brad, I appreciate it. The basic details are, boiler trouble meant no heat tin the building for a day or so. after the fix, still no heat. I investigated, as well as the PM for the condo corp. "should be working by tomorrow night as the boiler is far away form the top floor here" was his response to my tenant (so she says). next day, nothing. it turns out, the second of the two shut off valves was closed. honestly, i only knew of one shut off valve. I had pointed it out in case of emergency (pipes bursting).

The female tenant is .... abrasive. No other way to put it. In my first 5 minutes I knew I would not get out of this year without an issue at some point. Lesson learned. Nobody living in there that I have not met, ever again, for any reason. The funny thing is that her husband is a complete puppy dog and a heck of a guy who`s employers rave about him.

The PM is a reasonable fellow. I do not believe he is the most diligent by any means but certainly reasonable. When he called me back he was flat out mad. I had to, after about 30 seconds when I knew he was about to end with hanging up, ask him to "slow down and please calm down so we can talk about what happened". he did, slightly. and we did, briefly. He still hung up on me and told me he does not have to deal with these "things" and to "get things in order over there with the tenant".

He has been the condo assc manager for years and most likely will leave at his own choosing. I have no plans to get rid of the property anytime soon. I believe it is always in my best interests to try and build the bridge rather than destroy it. I was hoping to use the note to do that, as well as get a written record of his complaint about the smoking issue.

perhaps i should add some kind of padding to the start part. Though admittedly I know the sandwich method well as I teach public school and have recently read studies showing it has very little effectiveness. These were medical based studies on alertness following compliments vs. criticisms etc and suggested that a 2 part, positive - negative was more effective. apparently people disregard the negative if it is followed up with a compliment.
 
QUOTE (kfort @ Nov 12 2010, 11:21 PM) . . . He has been the condo assc manager for years and most likely will leave at his own choosing. I have no plans to get rid of the property anytime soon. I believe it is always in my best interests to try and build the bridge rather than destroy it. I was hoping to use the note to do that, as well as get a written record of his complaint about the smoking issue.

perhaps i should add some kind of padding to the start part. Though admittedly I know the sandwich method well as I teach public school and have recently read studies showing it has very little effectiveness. These were medical based studies on alertness following compliments vs. criticisms etc and suggested that a 2 part, positive - negative was more effective. apparently people disregard the negative if it is followed up with a compliment.

Point taken.

I`m not sure the dual purposes are sufficiently differentiated, would separate letters be more effective? One pointing out the `red flag to a bull` aspect of the heating issue, while clarifying the sequence of events. The other pointing out your attitude and approaches while acknowledging the problem the tenant causes him. Gives you different documentation for different purposes.

Again may be some stylistic differences between us here - good luck.
 
What exactly is the purpose of the letter. Are you on a fishing trip gathering information or are you trying to make a point with the PM.
I have read it several times and am still confused as to your intent.
 
just trying to make my future dealings with the PM, of which i`m sure there will be several, easier. Right now the last words he said were "...driving all the way over there on a friday night i don`t need to do these things and i will not be dealing with her ever again you need to get things in order with your tenant over there" followed by a click.

also trying to get some written documentation that she is smoking in a non-smoking building so i can toss her if it happens again. if the condo board gets 2 complaints that they deem credible they will require the tenant to move out. whether they get complaints or not if she is smoking in my unit it`s breaking the lease agreement and i`m tossing her.

and i was also just trying to get written documentation that i had every reason to believe it was a building issue since he told me it was on the phone a couple days prior. CYA type thing. last thing i need is an earful and a bill for his time (of which i already pay for once).
 
My advice would be that you should not communicate with the PM at all. After he spoke his mind I would steer clear and not broach the subject of who was responsible for the problem. Risk you take is simply irritating him farther.

The tenant is in my opinion your problem and she is the one I would be giving a ear full to regarding the issue with the PM and the matter of smoking.

Maybe after that I would contact the PM, tell him you reamed out the tenant and ask him to let you know immediately if he has any further problems. This way he will feel he has made his point and you are on his side (whether you are or not let him think you are)
 
Seems to me that a PM that can`t handle abrasive people and confrontational situations is in the wrong line of work. How is it that the condo association hires a PM that can choose whether or not he deals with heating issues and tenants? Probably I don`t have the whole picture.

Anyway, it seems like you`ve got a couple of irritable people feeding off each other. I`d work with both of them independently to try and smooth things out, but not take sides. They`re likely both in the wrong. I think you`re on the right track to establish the facts of the incident and focus on that, rather than who said what. Regarding the smoking, for sure let the tenant know (preferably in writing) that you`ve received a complaint and remind her of the rules. It`s hard to prove, but it never hurts to let the tenant know that you`re vigilant and serious about compliance.
 
this is the same PM that took over two years to change the names listed beside buzzers to "occupant". The same PM that has yet to fix a hole in the outer siding right by the front door for the last two years. the same PM that was supposed to `investigate further` our options for new windows for the building and came one year later to the AGM with zero. no info on colour, sizes, costs, R values, nothing. ... however, this is the same group of people who felt entirely comfortable with that and voted `yes` to replacements with zero info on what that meant. therefore i have very little confidence that this group of people would ever choose to find a replacement. They do not have high standards.

I think I will deal with them separately. The good news is that the wife will probably not protest too much if i do ask them to leave based on smoking situations as she spent the first hour of our meeting non stop rambling about how the place was so terrible in person etc. I`ve never had trouble renting it so I doubt it would start now.

Thanks for the insight all. It sometimes is hard to establish unbiased plans. Cheers.
 
QUOTE (JimWhitelaw @ Nov 13 2010, 07:42 PM) Seems to me that a PM that can`t handle abrasive people and confrontational situations is in the wrong line of work.
Kris, I agree with Jim 100%! Your biggest problem is the PM, not the tenant (although tenant isn`t good for business either).
A reasonable PM just doesn`t communicate with owners the way your PM communicated with you. Good luck & Regards, Neil
 
I think your approach about building bridges and trying to resolve the problem is 100% bang on.

I find that alot of these Condo Managers are not good people person`s which is crazy in this line of work.

I own rentals myself and I also am a Property Manager and my approach to avoid conflict at ALL costs has always served me well. The tenant boards are bias againt landlords, buidling managers are often incompetent, or over worked.

Obivously at times you have to be tough depending on the situation, but fights are not worth it in the long run.

Just my opinion.


Joseph
 
Thanks Joseph, I was just about to update this!

update: I did not send a letter to the PM, yet. I`m going to send a quick note thanking him for attending to the matter and alerting me of the smoking issue and leave it at that. My guess is he will discard it, possibly be annoyed with it, but that it will cause no major issue and at least be an example I can bring up in the future should I need to at some point provide evidence of my attempt to work collaboratively.

As for the tenant, this month will find two letters in their mailbox. One a reminder of the no smoking bylaws, and two a reminder that ALL alterations to the suite MUST be preceded by written permission outlining work to be done, time frame, and liability. The tenant recently informed me that they drilled two holes to mount the cable tv connection so they could wall mount the tv without an ugly cable hanging down. I feel it is in my best interests to remind them "who runs the bingo" round here.

Thanks again all. Being new at this I`ve posted quite a few questions and I appreciate not getting the typical internet `sarcastic tough guy` answers!

Kris
 
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