‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: What to Do When Residents Complain About Crying Babies

By Jessica Fiur, Senior Editor

Hearing their neighbors is common complaint amongst residents in apartment communities. Usually then the property manager can just knock on the door and ask if they can keep the noise level down. But what happens with a crying baby?

Have you heard about the Ferber Method? That’s a technique some parents use to get their babies to sleep by allowing them to “cry it out” for a certain amount of time before they go in and see what’s wrong. That means that the crying could go on for longer than normal, which could be extremely irritating for surrounding neighbors.

So, as a property manager, what should you do if your residents complain to you about their neighbors Ferberizing their baby (or if they just complain about a crying baby in general)? This isn’t a normal situation where you can just tell the residents to turn down their TVs or radios. It’s a baby, after all, and babies cry. Then again, you don’t want your residents getting so frustrated that they refuse to renew their lease. And if you do nothing, they’re definitely going to end up writing bad reviews of the community.