How can you train customer service to handle noisy neighbor complaints?

In my experience as a listing agent and property manager the most important part of the whole problem solving experience with the tenant to go smoothly is to listen empathetically! Next, find out if the noisy tenant is violating the lease agreement very clearly first. For the first complaints, make a courtesy call/Email/note on the door that comes from the leasing office . And that courtesy it needs to be informed where they are violating the lease specifics, so just date and time and also informed them of the consequences of any future complaints. It’s that very first contact to the noisy neighbor that will set the bar for that neighbor to understand what they are doing is against lease agreement.

Empathy helps to de-escalate tense situations. When customers feel heard and understood, they are less likely to become more upset or confrontational, also having Emotional Connection is very important because its allows you to connect with the customer on an emotional level. It shows that you care about their concerns and feelings, which can help build rapport.

The first step towards any complaints is to listen carefully to what your customer is saying with paying attention. Listening to your customer actively will provide you calm situation to go ahead

Communication the Key, to make sure your communication is effective, remember the 5 C's: Clarity, Conciseness, Consistency, Connection & Confidence. be a good listener don't over speak. Know your Lease do and don'ts. so, you can effectively introduce.

Research the issue online. Document remedies for noisy neighbour complaints. Include a low to high escalation. Make it into a step by step instructions or guide. Then the same answers or advice is always available to every employee.

I believe this is the most amicable way to handle any complain or dispute when refer to the tenant guidelines and explaining the rules nicely and professionally again and again. Try not to choose issuance of warning letters or fines, this should never a priority or way to handle complains from a good property manager / good property management company.

Again, It is always advisable that things are explained in writing. Yes, dealing with multiple tenant complaints each month can take up a lot of time when you are putting things in writing back to the complaint tenant but.. if the noisy tenant is not violating the lease agreement you can also save a lot of time and energy to possibly cut out a tenant complaint that is just beyond reason. Everything also starts at the office level or the administrative level of taking every single complaint seriously . Numerous occasions, where a tenant will complain and complain to go completely neglected by staff.

In most of my experiences with this type of query, often times I find that advising the Tenant of the process and asking if they would be comfortable speaking with the noisy neighbour themselves in the first instance often resolves the issue! By understanding the situation and making sure they are comfortable reaching out to the neighbour first provides them the reassurance they need to know you are there if the situation doesn’t improve. In many cases noise complaints would need to be handled by the local council as they have the authority to take appropriate action on the neighbour, particularly if the neighbour is not in a property that you directly manage, so handing out guidance from the local council can be a massive help!

I think it’s vital to ensure that procedure is explained in advance of the situation occurring - to tenants renting with pets and to landlords who are considering allowing Tenants with pets into there homes. Being upfront and transparent ensures everyone is on the same page for when a problem does arise.

Help them understand what it means to follow a “Good Neighbor Policy”. Treating their neighbors as they would expect their neighbors to treat them.

This is definitely a part of the process that I don’t think landlords are doing enough of actually talking to the tenant in a noise violation, and offering real concrete solutions. For example, dogs that bark all day is a tenants responsibility. The landlord can suggest the tenant get a dog walker or crate, train their animal. Or simply put the animal in a room where the animal doesn’t see the owner leaving every day, which is what causes most obsessive barking because the dog gets anxiety, seeing the owner physically leave. Unfortunately, people get pets all the time and don’t know how to properly take care of them so if management could step in and provide resolution, it would remind the tenant that they are indeed responsible .

These solutions can cause quite a few issues and inflame the situation. By suggesting that the tenant who raised the issue deal with it themselves, you are insinuating that management does care or won't do anything to help come to a resolution.

Basically, when we talk about any issue, we should also do our homework to find the solution. At least 2 solution should be offered which are in win win situation.

First of all we must know in detail what the lease states in these cases because noise complaint events could be common depending on various factors of the properties and their tenants.

This is some thing that probably 95% of landlords never do! The reason why this is important is because if a noise complaint is still not being resolved, and no one checks in on the complaining tenant, the complaining tenant might be taking their own action against the violating tenant. Which can cause actual personal conflict . In my experience, many times, leasing offices won’t do anything, and I’ve had to take matters into my own hands with an official written notice on their door that they are violating the lease agreement, or even a local city ordinance. Yeah, this is supposed to be the responsibility of the landlord to implement these things not the tenant. Tenants pay the landlord to manage the property .

I think landlords and property managers at the leasing office level really need to be trained big time for noise complaint resolution. Noise complaints are the number one thing that makes people unhappy enough to want to move out . Tenants moving out after one year and having to turn over the unit is time-consuming and costly for the landlord. Landlords that refused to deal with tenant complaints because they are trying to avoid conflict. Makes no sense of being a property owner . I think individual property owners that are managing their own property should have a certification and I think the state should require such certification .

The normal procedure to receive any complaint, listen carefully , apologize, get more details like time of noise, frequency, if the tenant reported to security or concierge..etc. Provide a solution, to inform the noisy tenant about receiving complaints from his neighbors, -First assumption , he doesn't know that his noise reaches others, in a friendly way he will cooperate -Second assumption he knows and doesn't care, then formal emails to stop the noise -last assumption, he is a very rude tenant , then a police complaint to record his behaviour and furthermore legal action

As a Property Manager you need to act immediately, make a courtesy call and notated into the comunication memo, look into the cause of the noise complaint, ask the tenant to make changes if it was really cause by them. If the issue continues make a report to the courtesy officer and report to your local authority about the noise complaints. If they are not compliant with the property rules and regulations you set up a meeting with the tenant. If none of the above works terminate their lease contract.

Obviously training as well as hiring the right type of people to work with the pubic in the first place are key. Train managers in the law, bring in attorneys occasionally to give updates, make sure managers have a firm grasp of all the facility rules, bring in local law enforcement to give their perspective. First and foremost ensure managers have an empathic attitude and try to understand the the frustration tenants have when noisy situations arise. As well has how to tactfully and strongly deal with the offending parties without escalation. Bottom line ensure they have a 360 degree view of all aspects of dealing with the issue and understand the role of each party that will be potentially involved in a noise complaint.