Residents
Owners
Passive aggressive tenants are those that act passive towards you, your staff, and other tenants, but their actions show subtle hostility. Passive aggressive tenants can cause a landlord many issues, cost them money, and waste their time. How does a landlord recognize passive aggressive tenants and what should they do about it?
Recognizing the Behavior
While they aren’t going to act confrontational to your face, they will deliberately make things more difficult for you. The behavior is a form of intimidation and harassment.
Examples of passive aggressive behavior from a tenant to a landlord could include:
- A tenant that doesn’t speak to you about a problem but contacts someone above you to make you look bad or get you reprimanded including law enforcement or building inspectors
- A tenant eagerly agrees with your request and then completely avoids or neglects the request
- Manipulation is a form of this behavior. If a tenant asks you to do them a favor such as asking you to not charge a late fee on rent because they had an emergency this month
- A tenant that disrupts other tenants and then files a complaint against them
- A tenant that doesn’t take responsibility but blames everyone around themselves
- A tenant that doesn’t speak to you but politely notifies you that their attorney advised them to let you know that they have the right to sue you
- A tenant that won’t communicate and ignores your requests for information or gives you the silent treatment on property matters. If a minor issue becomes a major issue, then they may try to get free rent out of you for not repairing it soon enough.
- When it’s time to show the apartment to prospective tenants, they leave a mess to discourage new renters
How to Handle this Unwelcome Behavior
Landlords should never engage or encourage this behavior. Document all communication and set deadlines for tenants rather than accepting their manipulation. If you stick to your word, they will take you seriously. Tenants will be forced to comply to avoid penalties.
