01 Feb Ready to fire your property manager?
Are you a landlord who’s fed up with an underperforming or unresponsive property manager? Are you ready to fire your property manager but are worried about what to do after that? Here’s a helpful list:
- Check the original contract you have with the property management company about what constitutes means for dismissal and what the steps are to dismiss the company. Follow those rules to the letter.
- Send a first-class letter to your tenants introducing yourself as the new property manager (or interim property manager if you’re planning to hire a new company to manage your properties). In the letter, include the address and other rules for where they should send rental payments from now on.
- Assume that the newly fired property manager was not living up to their end of the bargain on any front. Do your research to find out whether everything is up to date – rental collections, inspections, bill processing, bookkeeping, signed rental agreements, etc.
- Schedule an on-site Safe and Clean inspection as soon as possible with each tenant. It’s important that you meet the tenant, introduce yourself, and assess the property yourself, in case nobody has been doing so.
- Expect some tenants to play your old property manager against you, blaming them for missed rental payments, maintenance issues, etc. If there are no written records or agreements regarding any such issues, stand firm and follow the demands and rules in the originally signed lease (assuming it was signed).
- Assess whether this much work is worth your time, or whether you’d be better off hiring a new property manager. And definitely use your experience with the previous property manager to guide your search for the new one. Conduct a thorough background check and check references as well.