How would you feel if you walked into your apartment and you saw this Angry, frustrated, disappointed? Maybe anxiety because you’re going to have to talk to your tenant about the damages and repairs. Remember, don’t take it personally; remove the emotion and finally- kill them with kindness. Instead of focusing on how you feel, focus on what you need to do to overcome the situation.
Some landlords would be really pissed off and approach their tenants with aggression. As a result, their tenant is likely to get defensive and not care at all about what you’re saying. Your tenants will be more receptive to you when you’re kind to them, even in difficult situations like this one. You’ll have an easier time removing your emotion and being able to focus on the solution.
Here’s an example of how I would approach this situation: “Hey, Joe, oh my gosh! What happened to the wall? Is everybody okay? Did anyone get hurt?
Joe explains…
“Oh, man! Well, you know we can’t have a hole in the wall, what are we gonna do about this?
Again, remove your emotions and focus on how you can overcome the problem. Joe’s probably feeling a little bit guilty and having a good friendly conversation is going to help you work together on the solution.
“Okay, I’m going to note the damage here on my inspection checklist and then I will get you to sign off on it. Just so you know Joe, I’m going to give you something called an N5 and this is how it works. It’s going to detail the damage, then you’ll have seven (7) days to fix it. Do you think you’ll be able to fix it?
Joe is unable to fix it…
“If you’re unable to fix it, we’ll take care of it for you and the N5 will detail how much the repairs will cost you”.
With kindness. It’s not always going to go perfectly and your tenant may not always respond well but at least you tried.
