What to Ask Before Signing With a Property Manager

Hiring a property manager for your rental properties can save you a lot of time and admin when it comes to being a landlord. And they can actually be extremely beneficial, but the quality of an arrangement like this all depends on your research prior to hiring a company to take over the day-to-day logistics of managing rental properties.

Asking the right questions upfront rather than just assuming what hasn’t been explicitly stated means you can get a better idea of what to expect, what will be handled on your behalf and what exactly you’re paying for.

What’s Included in the Management Fee

The base fee doesn’t always tell the whole story because it can mean anything from a full service arrangement handling everything from tenant placement to maintenance coordination to a bare bones package that only covers rent collection.

Services like rental property management helps landlords out by taking on the full workload, with local teams handling tenant placement, rent collection and repair coordination for a flat fee. Before signing up for anything, always ask exactly what is included in the flat fee versus what triggers an additional charge. Get a full written breakdown of everything included and what you need to pay extra for so you can be confident you know exactly what you’re going to be paying for.

How Maintenance Costs Are Handled

Repairs are one of the biggest variables between property management companies, and the details here matter a lot. Ask questions like: Is there a markup to contractor invoices? What repairs are handled and at what threshold do they take over? When will they require your explicit consent to move forward with repairs? Do they expect you to pay upfront on invoice or from the rental income you receive at the agreed rent payment date?

What’s the Process for Tenant Screening

A property manager’s screening process directly affects how reliable the eventual tenant turns out to be. This means certain checks need to be made prior to offering them a tenancy. Checks include credit history, income verification, previous landlord references, and eviction history. This forms part of a more thorough assessment to help locate the right tenant to reduce issues once they move in.

But not all companies perform the same level of checks; some have a specific set of criteria they assess tenants by, while others have looser frameworks and rely on gut judgement or how fast they can fill a vacancy. Ask to see the full screening criteria in writing so you know exactly how they’re choosing who they let you be a property to. Things to look for include the minimum income requirements, whether they require the income to be at least three times the monthly rent, what they don’t compromise on, and what is an automatic exclusion for applicants. It will show the level of due diligence they’re taking.

How Often Will You Communicate With Me

All landlords will have different preferences for how involved they want to be, and it’s important that expectations are matched with how frequently the company will be communicating with you and for what they will be communicating about. 

Find out how they prefer to communicate so you know where to look when checking in or requiring them to get in touch personally. Then ask how often they send you updates, even if there’s nothing of concern you need to know about. What happens when something goes wrong, and what will they need your permission for in an emergency. 

The more you understand how much contact there will be and the method of communication, you can assess if this works for you and adjust expectations on both sides if possible, or you can choose to look elsewhere if it’s not what you want or where expecting.

What Happens if Rent Goes Unpaid

Late or missed rent is one of the most stressful parts of owning property. When it comes to forging a good relationship with a property manager or finding one that works for you and your portfolio, you need to know exactly how they approach late or missed payments and how they handle non-payers.

Ask for the exact timeline for each reminder, when they go out and how fast they escalate things. Ask if a flat fee is applied for late payments and at what point the eviction process begins. Understanding this before you need to go down this route means you’ll be prepared once you come across this situation.

It’s a good idea to ask who covers legal fees if an eviction becomes a necessity, as some contracts pass this cost directly onto the landlord while others include it in the fee for the service they provide. On top of this, ask if they offer a rent guarantee program to cover missed payments directly, as this is offered by some but isn’t included as standard by all companies.

How Do You Handle Property Inspections

Regular inspections catch small maintenance issues before they become bigger, more expensive problems for you and confirm a property is being looked after as agreed. But they’re not always carried out as standard or as regular as you might expect them to be.

Ask how often inspections happen, what they look for and whether written reports are provided afterwards. Also ask how much notice tenants are given before the inspection, as this can help verify if they genuinely carry this out or if they charge it as an add-on when you request it. A company that can’t clearly answer this might not be conducting them in the first place, regardless of whether they say they do or not.

What Are the Terms for Ending the Contract

The exit terms matter just as much as the terms for getting started and what they carry out on your behalf. Ask about the required notice period, any early termination fees, and what happens to active leases if the contract ends mid-tenancy to avoid being caught off guard later if the relationship isn’t working out. A company that is confident in its service typically has no issue being transparent about these terms upfront, while vague or evasive answers here are worth treating as a red flag before signing anything.