Hi,
We had a tenant not so long ago. Mid 50’s, single female. I wouldn’t say she had a mental health issue (She was a working GP) Once I got to know her, she was a drinker, had had a rough time with men especially and developed a persecution complex. She started with having loud arguments over the balcony with me about the inanest of things. First, we had part of the path pressure cleaned and with one end roped off for a morning. She made a big deal out of not being able to use the path and why wasn’t she wasn’t consulted and now she wouldn’t go to the gym. Ignoring the simple fact, she could exit via the other street entrance and walk to the front in 60 seconds. Then she claimed drug deals were going on because strange men were coming and going late at night. Two young lads had just moved into the penthouse unit. As often the case they would come home pissed at 1:00am, which is not uncommon for young single guys (I remember those days). They would often lock themselves out as well and would have to hang around the entrance until the other came home. Then she claimed people were harassing her on her intercom. This did happen, but as we quickly determined water had got onto the intercom and was cross calling random units (not just hers). When she would start to kickoff, I started telling her “Jill (not her real name) I’m not prepared to talk to you when you’re behaving like this. Talk to me when you’ve calmed down”. She started to after that. I could explain what the situation was, rather than what she had cooked up in her mind. We lived in peace from then onwards. Some people don’t take to strata living very well if they’ve lived their whole life in a house. Some people just want to feel heard. Your “minor” noise complaints may be perfectly valid in her mind. See if you can hear her out (but make clear boundaries that yelling/abuse won’t be tolerated). That may be all she needs. Try to explain to her that when you’re living on top of each other there will be the occasional TV noise, slamming doors, kids screaming, trades coming to do maintenance etc. Good luck.