Highly Anxious Tenant advice?
Hello. I am helping my elderly mother rent out her old apartment in another state. We typically have graduate student tenants who stay for a year and are very low maintenance, but a year ago we took on a person who is much more high maintenance. I kind of hoped she would move out after her lease term was up, but she is now staying, which in some ways is easier since we don't have to go through the process of finding and onboarding a new tenant. I suspect she has an anxiety disorder, because she has a service animal. She has frequent demands and many seem driven by paranoia. I am an overwhelmed single parent, so these multiplying requests are hard for me to manage. I would love to drop everything every time, but having just paid my taxes in July, its hard to deal with a barrage of urgent messages when I am barely hanging on in prioritizing myself and my child. Does anyone have experience dealing with an anxious tenant? Any advice? It is a very well maintained, but old building serviced by a management company. She has a very good deal on rent. I live remotely. She is asking for things like needing to know why a building repair paused for a day and is she at risk staying there. She messages me multiple time as well as the management company over things like this. The requests have seemed to multiply recently after being more quiet. I have a hard time saying no, or ignoring messages, but its upsetting to prioritize her needs which seem very minor or imagined. Are there strategies for me to ally her fears and worries?
Parent Replies