How you can deal with a serial complainer to a body corporate

Grant Mifsud, Archers – the Strata Professionals partner, said that dealing with serial complainers is more of a life skill than anything else, as they are not just relegated to the body corporate of a complex.

“It’s a fact of life that we have to deal with serial complainers, constant whiners and people who are just angry at the world,” Mr Mifsud said.

He described a body corporate as a fourth layer of government composed of unit owners who make the majority of decisions within a complex.

“These decisions deal with situations that affect people’s living arrangements, making even the smallest of issues seem very personal to the resident,” Mr Mifsud said.

“Some people find bodies corporate to be a perfect place to complain. Unfortunately, too often there are no repercussions for people behaving badly, except for causing higher administrative costs for the body corporate which includes themselves.”

He continued, stating there have been some examples where residents were actually deemed to be breaking body corporate by-laws for being a nuisance by repeatedly sending lengthy complaints, and other cases where volunteer body corporate members resign due to consistent pests, as they “ they no longer want to deal with the local village idiot who makes life hell for everyone”.

“There have been instances were serial complainants have had to have restrictions imposed on the number of times they can write to the body corporate and the length of the individuals correspondence, with one complainant restricted to 1,000 words per week,” Mr Mifsud said.

Knowing how to deal with difficult people can not only help you through life, but can also make your stay in a body corporate much more pleasant.

“When dealing with a difficult person, you must remain detached and calm, knowing your response can either exacerbate or diffuse the problem,” he said.

“While a vocal minority can make life difficult for bodies corporate, usually by the proven method of death by a thousand key strokes, most residents in strata communities are pleasant people.

“Thankfully most residents are amenable and if they have any issues, they are usually straight forward to accommodate.”

Mr Mifsud’s tips for dealing with serial complainers are: