Issue with Regional Mgr lack of Consistency

I have a resident who has a major capex project in her home that has been ongoing for over 2 years. We have high rise towers and the windows and sliding glass door has failed. Water comes in when it rains and you can feel the air. We’ve demoed and installed these windows and doors twice over a couple of years - $20k and counting. It has not worked.

The resident is also one of those residents that complains about any and everything. Anytime she sends an email she copies thr office, my regional, and the corporate info email. It can be about the rose bushes not being trimmed, someone having more than 2 bags of trash for valet, a car with loud music.. anything. The resident contacted the owner of my company by way of certified mail and dragged my name through the mud as if I was the reason the construction isn’t working. The problem existed before me and was escalated to my regional to handle. Rather than throw my regional under the bus I ate the daggers.

My issue is, my regional has required other residents to transfer or move for less intrusive repairs such as floors, even Sheetrock repairs etc. But this resident she’s put in a hotel, paid for her meals while at thr hotel, painted her apartment, cleaned the carpets.. whatever she asks for, she gets. I’ve told my regional it seems unfair to be pulling out all the stops on this unit while she’s still living there and the only thing she said was “I can’t make her move.” The resident is very hard to interact with, as I’ve told my regional many times. She literally blames me, knowing damn well my regional is the person heading up this project. My regional allows her to continue blaming me and causing hell.

This situation is putting a strain on my relationship with my regional because I feel like she’s playing favorites with the little old lady. We’ve “inconvenienced” other residents for less. I’m having a hard time with this becasise it’s not consistent with what we normally do and she won’t budge. What do I do here? I’m almost ready to just put in my notice as it’s hard to run my property when my regional is not supporting.

Sorry you have to go through this. I would remind her that she is creating a fair housing issue that could result in litigation. It is obvious that she is treating this resident different from the others. If that does not work; I would go to her superiors with the same defense. No one wants a fair housing violation on their property record.

Before you give your notice, I strongly encourage you to meet with your Regional Manager in person and express again why this issue and how its being handled does not have your support. Lay out how you'd like to see this handled moving forward-again. Let them see your frustration and how draining this one resident is to your workweek. Kindly ask your supervisor/regional to see this from your point of view. See if this helps in any way. If it doesn't, then it shouldn't surprise anyone if you decide its time to move on. My hope is that it wakes them up and they change course, allowing you to finally feel like you have their support. My fingers are crossed for you!

I agree with others and would only add, get your facts straight & have them ready in writing & follow up with an email. Lay out which residents, the issue & the result including the one currently in question. While Fair Housing liability may drive the desired favorable response, at the end of the day she undermines your authority and it’s hard to work harmoniously in those circumstances. As a counter point, sometimes it’s just easier to quiet the squeaky wheel. Take charge - have the facts and respectfully request a relationship where your input is sought after and respected.