Issues Faced By Apartment Residents

Having a home to yourself has always been a dream for the majority of adults. And these days, when most city dwellers say that they dream of their own home, what they really mean is that they want to buy a pretty little flat in an apartment complex built by a reputable builder. Everyone wants to be part of a prominent gated community where they get to cohabit with upper-middle-class folks and where amenities are easily available, despite the issues faced by apartment residents.

However, the reality is far from different in communities that are not very well managed. Residents face a plethora of issues which often require external help to solve. If you are a resident of an apartment complex that has its fair share of troubles, this article could help you immensely.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Issues Faced By Apartment Residents :

#1 Foolproof Security

This is always a primary concern for all residents. While arranging and overseeing security and the associated duties rests mostly on the management committee, which is mostly made of up of residents themselves, getting the personnel to work like a well-oiled machine is hard. This means discrepancies can creep up if the staff aren’t trained well, leaving everyone within the society vulnerable.

Here’s how you can improve the efficiency of your security system –

Do not depend on manual skills alone. Take help of technology. While CCTVs are a staple now, realise that they are no good at preventing crimes, they can only document them.
Get the ADDA Gatekeeper app. This intelligently designed app from the market leaders in apartment management software, lets security personnel, residents and MCs work together to achieve near next to an unbreachable security system. It keeps track of traffic at gates, staff attendance, photo capturing and ID verification of guests and more.
Most importantly, ADDA app provides residents with a panic alert button that lets them call for help in a matter of seconds. The app also allows security personnel and residents to maintain an incident report/record for the entire apartment complex. Eg, if there was an attempt to break into an individual unit, or if somebody had raised a panic alert or any such odd activity can be made a note of. You can even add a picture or a voice recording of the incident if you have one.

#2 Waste Disposal And Management

The epic crisis that India faces on the trash disposal front is a result of failure at an individual level to manage garbage correctly. One cannot simply hand over garbage to the municipalities and local bodies expecting them to manage the trash. Much can be done within apartment complexes alone.

Here are some possible solutions –

Strict segregation rules. Follow a color code and have rules in place to ensure that all residents follow said rules. Fine them if you must should they break the rules.
Collaborate with residents and MCs to raise funds for an in-house waste processing unit. The compost can be used for plants within the compound.
Reduce the gap between waste collection rounds. If possible collect plastic waste daily too in addition to bio and food wastes.

#3 Litter & Debris In Common Areas

Keeping the premises clean is going to be a Herculean task with hundreds of residents, especially kids cohabiting together (another one of very pressing issues faced by apartment residents). Your cleaning staff may have to work in multiple shifts to ensure that the common areas are kept clean. However, the occasional complaint about debris and trash being out in the open is not uncommon. Here’s how you can make sure that your premises stay clean.

Place enough trash cans within the compound.
Assign work area-wise. This avoids confusion among the cleaning staff about who should clean what.
Have multiple rounds of cleaning or at least inspection each day.
Put up notices, warning anyone who litters that if they are spotted, they will be heavily fined.

#4 Equal Access To Common Amenities

Gym, swimming pools, game courts, other recreational units must be made equally available to all residents. Yet the facilities are always often crowded during the morning and after-work hours, which often leads to a few parties failing to get access. These issues faced by apartment residents becomes worse during summer months when there would be coaching classes for gym, dance and the likes leaning folks who didn’t sign up for said classes to have limited access to common amenities. A lot of residents would be disappointed in such a scenario.

This is probably going to be very difficult to sort out given that you can’t ask residents to change their daily schedules to fit availability of facilities. However, here are some things you can do –

Schedule classes that take up common amenities to fit in the least busy hours. Afternoon and mid-morning would be ideal.
Always ask residents to enter their name and flat number before using the gym or similar facilities.
Keep track of clubhouse, party hall booking etc through ADDA App. ADDA has a unique feature called Clubhouse management that not only helps residents book/block the hall for a particular date, it also helps MCs keep track of guests, events and more. They can even view them in the form of reports. This allows residents to check availability while also helping MCs avoid booking clashes.

#5 Bad Conduct From Neighbors

It is unlikely that every resident is a homeowner. So you’re going to see a fair share of tenants as well. Unless the association rules are strict about screening tenants, you might end up meeting people who may be disappointing. Very often, bachelors get loud with their partying or entertaining guests causing residents in their immediate vicinity to be disturbed. While we believe that a little leniency goes a long away, tenants who break rules should be dealt with strictly. Here’s how you can encourage all residents to behave well.

Screen tenants. If you’ve had a bad experience with bachelors or a certain kind of crowd, have a word with them before they move in.
Frame solid rules to handle misbehaving tenants. If need be, maintain a clause that allows you to remove them should they be caught for bad or illegal conduct.
Set rules about speed limits, noise levels, having guests over and whatever else necessary and have then written down in the contract for tenants.
Do not hesitate to involve authorities in necessary.

#6 Rent, Maintenance And Other Dues

This is more of an MC issue rather than issues faced by apartment residents, because unless they are diligent about collecting dues and tracking defaulters, there will always be issues with money. However, residents themselves need reminders to help them pay their dues on time. Being busy isn’t a fault and given how our lives are today, it is common for people to forget due dates. If multiple residents forget their dues, the amount collected at the end of the month would be significantly lesser than what it should have been. This makes paying salaries for maintenance staff, utility bills and the likes quite difficult. Here’s how you can collect dues in a timely manner:

Accept that notices and posters don’t always help. Many people walk past bulletin boards so they’re near next to pointless these days.
Get the ADDA App. All residents will get in-app notifications intimating them that maintenance, rent or other payments are due.
MCs can make use of the management module of the app to keep track of defaulters, send notices to everyone who missed payments in a single go and do important accounting related tasks.
In short, get technical help in the form of ADDA app to stay organized and efficient.

#7 Shortage Of Water – The Scariest Of Issues Faced By Apartment Residents

This is not an issue specific to apartment complexes because most urban cities face a dire shortage of clean water. But within apartment complexes, this issue becomes more pronounced because there’s only so much the underground tanks can hold and if residents are not cautious about using water wisely, things could get difficult. Not much can be done without residents’ cooperation here, but here are some things you could try:

Make sure that the tankers actually fill the underground reserves before they leave. You should have the provision to check tank parameters at the time of check in and check out. Never skip doing this.
Encourage residents to fix leaky faucets, taps and the likes at the earliest.
Post notices about judicious use of water.
Use borewell water for cleaning, washing cars, watering plants etc.
Harvest rainwater wherever possible.

#8 Domestic staff management

A big compound requires quite a few people for upkeep and maintenance. You’ll need cleaning staff, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and similar workmen around the clock to handle emergency maintenance issues. Residents themselves will need maids, cooks and nannies inside their units. Tracking all these people is a big chore in itself. However, like running any institution, having people on the payroll means having to manage the workforce as well. To efficiently manage your staff here’s what you can do.

Maintain a software attendance system. Signing a register book to mark attendance is outdated and easily manipulated. Such manual registers can be damaged easily rendering them useless.
Use ADDA Gatekeeper and ADDA app to efficiently maintain staff attendance, biometric systems to verify their identity and even blacklist people who have displayed bad conduct.
ADDA will also help you with calculating pay based on days present and make payments easily.

#9 Maintenance Requests

With over 100 families residing together, maintenance requests are going to be many and they can come at any time. There could be leaky taps, broken lights, accidental damages to structures and more. So when multiple requests come in daily, there is a chance that some could be missed if a proper system isn’t in place. Here’s how you can manage and attend maintenance requests efficiently.

Residents should ideally raise maintenance requests through the ADDA app. Instead of placing a phone call and leaving a verbal complaint with the association, using the app gives the benefit that it raises a ticket. This sets a whole protocol into motion and even helps MCs track complaints better and escalate them needed.
Members of the board should make it a point to assign tasks to a workman as soon as a complaint is raised and to follow up until the task is attended to.
Follow up with the resident to ensure that they’re happy with the fixes made.

#10 Parking Woes

If you don’t have designated parking slots for each unit, God save you from the chaos that will ensue. Any apartment complex will have vehicles owned by residents and guests alike moving in and out around the clock. You’ll need a dedicated person to oversee that cars are parked in appropriate spots and not wherever the driver pleases to put his car. Not regulating parking can cause a lot of obstruction, which subsequently leads to chaos.

Take a look at some ways to minimise traffic-related troubles within your apartment
Always check for free parking slots before permitting a guest vehicle to enter the compound
Assign spots for delivery vehicles next to each block. To ensure that they don’t leave their vehicles there and go strolling around, following their activity with ADDA Gatekeeper.
Always make note of the driver’s contact number because in case he needs to move his vehicle following an emergency requirement.