How to Prevent a Hostile Living Environment

Protect yourself and your tenants.

If you're in the situation of managing a housing development, apartments or even dormitories, it's vital for you to understand the meaning of a hostile living environment. Even more important is the knowledge and skills needed to prevent a hostile living environment for your tenants. You also need to be able to protect yourself in addition to any tenants. Making a mistake could be costly and you risk losing your job and facing a potential lawsuit.

Things You'll Need

• Filing system
• Training course
• Handbook

Instructions

1. Seek out and obtain appropriate training. Review federal housing guidelines and mandatory training sessions. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's offers handbooks, connections and information regarding individual state guidelines.

2. Understand what defines and contributes to a hostile living environment. This helps you protect against this situation. Some concepts that may be interpreted and legally defined as a hostile living environment include random enforcement of rules and policies, making racial or derogatory slurs or comments and purposely avoiding maintenance. If you have employees or contractors, you must take steps to ensure their behavior is legal and appropriate.

3. Respond quickly to problems and follow up on these matters. This is in regard to complaints, maintenance requests and general inquiries. Taking the right steps to respond to current and potential tenants is an important and necessary prevention tool. It doesn't matter if you're the one providing maintenance or if you hire someone else, a quick response indicates acknowledgment and maintains a positive environment.

4. Document all dealings related to tenant issues. Keep records of all phone calls, responses, calls of action and follow-up efforts. Not only does this step help you keep a necessary record of what needs to done and what has been done, it also helps you stay organized. A simple filing system isn't difficult to establish and takes minimal effort to keep up.

Tips & Warnings

• Knowing the housing laws and regulations will help you gain confidence and maintain a positive environment. Communication with tenants is essential.

References

• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Fair Housing Laws and Presidential Executive Orders