Is It Time to Fire Your Property Manager? Maybe Not.
Are you a property owner dealing with ongoing tenant issues? You might be wondering if it’s time to fire your property manager. It’s important to understand that sometimes the issue might be with you, and if it is, perhaps firing the current manager isn’t needed at all. Many property owners find themselves in the same situation.
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When Is It *Not* Time to Fire Your Property Manager?
- When Is It *Not* Time to Fire Your Property Manager?
- Warning Signs: When to Seriously Consider Firing Your Property Manager
- The Process of Firing A Property Manager
- Important Factors to Consider Before Taking Action
- Navigating the Transition Process
- When is it Time to Start Tenant Screening on Your Own?
- The Value of Certified Mail and Professional Legal Advice
- Making the Final Call: Should You Fire Your Property Manager?
- Conclusion
When Is It *Not* Time to Fire Your Property Manager?
Before you fire your property manager, take a moment for honest self-reflection. Annette Grant of Thanks for Visiting has seen owners jump from property manager to property manager because they may have unrealistic expectations.
Are Your Expectations Unrealistic?
Are you someone who is never happy with those you hire? Sarah Karakayan of Thanks for Visiting asks if you are constantly hopping from manager to manager. Consider if the problem lies with the manager, or if it’s with you.
Do you provide your property manager with the resources they need to succeed? Or do you ignore their suggestions for improvements to your current property? All investment needs careful consideration.
Are You Listening to Feedback?
Has your property manager suggested updates to your property, like new photos or upgrades? Ignoring their advice could be hindering your property’s potential. They oversee property, so you should give thought to their feedback.
Owners often desire results without investing time, work, or money into their property. In those cases, it’s not really about the property manager at all. Are you comparing your property’s performance to others in your area and accounting for your property’s condition relative to theirs?
Misaligned Expectations: Co-host vs. Property Manager
The rise of Airbnb and the term “co-host” have blurred the lines of responsibility, so clarifying expectations and responsibilities is important. The current property could succeed if expectations are aligned.
Depending on your area, a property manager might be a licensed real estate salesperson. Co-hosts can also handle everything for property owners. They might even use the term “co-hosts” because of its popularity in real estate.
Understanding Licensing Requirements
Licensing needs vary by location when someone oversees property, so some places require licenses to co-host. Other places have their own certifications and legalities for the process.
Make sure you know your area’s laws for having someone take care of your property with guests. If you don’t, you should learn them.
Midterm Rentals and Licensing
Thinking about midterm rentals as an option? It could be that the person helping you isn’t licensed to manage stays longer than 28 or 30 days, depending on the state. There’s also cleaning coordination, maintenance, and financial aspects to consider.
Make sure the management agreement states what is required from you. Do you have a clear understanding of everyone’s responsibilities, including the owner, manager, and guests? All parties should be appropriately covered to be successful, as Annette Grant of Thanks for Visiting recalls how a handshake agreement led to issues when other property managers offered more comprehensive services.
When the Problem Isn’t Your Manager — It’s Your Cleaner
Not every issue at your rental is a management problem. If you’re getting guest complaints about cleanliness, don’t be too quick to blame your property manager. In many cases, it’s the cleaning team that’s underperforming. A dirty property can tank your reviews and revenue, even if everything else is running smoothly. Before switching managers, consider whether what you really need is a cleaner you can trust. Here’s how to tell: When to Fire Your Airbnb Cleaner.
Warning Signs: When to Seriously Consider Firing Your Property Manager
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the property management relationship just isn’t working. No matter the effort put in, the relationship could continue to fail. There are clear warning signs when it’s time to seriously consider firing your property manager, such as ongoing tenant issues.
Communication Breakdowns
A frequent complaint is poor communication. This involves lack of consistent updates, responses that don’t make sense, or failure to address your questions, which ultimately, is communication lack.
Another consideration is if their emails appear rushed with no thought put into the response. According to Thanks for Visiting, communication is essential in customer service.
Lack of Transparency
Lack of transparency can be detrimental. With short-term rentals, property owners should always be immediately informed of everything that’s going on at the property.
- Property Status.
- Tenant Issues.
- Financial Statements.
Negligence and Incompetence
Negligence is something to watch for at all costs because serious things are at stake. Property negligence often leads to unsafe safety standards in short-term rentals, with the property not cared for and things slipping through the cracks.
Safety issues that happen will ultimately come back on you, even if someone else oversees property at the time.
Poor Revenue Optimization
Is the property manager underperforming when you look at the numbers? As a property owner, you want to make money with very few headaches. Here are a few areas to consider with revenue optimization:
- Pricing.
- Occupancy.
- Marketing.
Scaling Too Quickly
Watch out for management companies that expand at an unsustainable rate because when scaling too quickly, they can’t serve all needs appropriately. That scaling could manifest as less cleanliness, maintenance, and attention to safety needs.
They may brag about fast scaling when meeting with you. However, if they don’t have systems or an adequate team, your property may get neglected.
Why You May Need a PMS, Even with a Property Manager
If your property manager or co-host is constantly dropping the ball, the real issue might be a lack of systems. A Property Management System (PMS) can streamline guest communication, calendar syncing, housekeeping coordination, and reporting — things that shouldn’t depend solely on one person. Even with a capable manager, having a PMS in place ensures your operations don’t fall apart if someone quits, scales too fast, or simply gets overwhelmed. Learn more in our guide: Why Airbnb Co-Hosts Need a PMS.
Financial Mismanagement
Are you constantly finding mistakes in your owner statements or discrepancies every time they invoice you? This likely means they’re scaling too quickly.
Another aspect could also be lack of communication about finances. Look out if reports are often late. When are you paying invoices, and when are funds released?
The Process of Firing A Property Manager
The team from Thanks for Visiting believes in “firing fast.” This doesn’t mean acting without a plan, but rather addressing issues promptly. Consider a three-step approach from talking about all the key metrics and financial needs to when improvements can or should be improved.
Like anything, it takes time for improvements to take place, but still make sure it’s working and the money works right. Be diligent in documenting progress and noting failures.
Documenting Issues
The initial step is to address the concerns directly with the property manager. Explain clearly and do more check-ins with them about ways to improve their tasks. Here are a few example questions and prompts:
- “We talked a few months ago about X, Y, and Z. I haven’t seen improvements, and this happened. What should be improved?”.
- “Where can we go from here?”.
Providing a Warning
The discussion may or may not prompt improvements, but it should show promise. The owner or tenant needs to let them know, again, what needs to be done appropriately, which can be a daunting task.
Express desire to avoid the conversation again without making gains on milestones. Here are the type of topics you may be discussing as you’re both going through that documentation process:
- Invoicing Issues.
- Lack of tenant screenings.
- Improper and infrequent tenant contact.
Off-boarding
Off-boarding has several factors, from discussing dates to figuring out when keys can be dropped off, and determining if money still has to be reimbursed for issues. If the third conversation reveals no improvements, it’s time to fire property manager or decide together it’s time to go in another direction.
Instead, move toward how to part ways. What dates will work to complete off-boarding needs? Make sure these things have proper steps to success, but that you’ve tried what you needed to in order to provide improvements.
Regardless of the steps mentioned above, do not think that you need to go through that list one by one or two by two. Remember to continue researching and look for resources to do things more smoothly, because it may actually come down to you.
Important Factors to Consider Before Taking Action
Firing someone needs to have steps done, so do your research before terminating agreements. Whether you’ll self-manage or hire someone new, doing the homework will lead to proper progress for what could come of it all, including tenant screening.
The Legally Binding Contract: Property Management Agreement
Before you take action, be very familiar with your management contract and know the cancellation policy. You should do this so as not to affect current services or things needing reimbursement. Know the steps to be completed on all areas and aspects of the steps you’ll have.
A legally binding contract will often have steps spelled out appropriately. Here’s a summary of the key contract terms that every property owner or investor needs to know in case the business partnership dissolves or becomes unfruitful.
| Key Clause | Description |
|---|---|
| Scope of Services | Explains specifically what the property management services include. |
| Termination Clause | Steps to legally end the agreement early or later, also known as the agreement termination. |
| Management Fees | Expenses the manager should provide in daily operations. |
| Insurance Coverage | Coverage by insurance and who oversees property with the needs to fulfill property and tenant safety. |
| Fair Housing | Affirms responsibility that tenants are always taken care of the appropriate legal way. |
Navigating the Transition Process
Create a transition plan with action steps for completing everything, from the dates keys are exchanged to completing outstanding maintenance requests. These requests need to be finished well if they’re within your area.
How can the current property and daily operation processes for renters transition smoothly? You should consider several aspects for tenants.
- Communicate the Change: Give tenants formal, written notice with property manager contact info.
- Records: Secure records like leases and reports.
Hiring property managers needs cost-benefit considerations for you. For safety on both ends, complete proper tenant screenings before or when getting started, as referenced by RentSafe. Be very involved for success when needed, also.
When is it Time to Start Tenant Screening on Your Own?
The role that landlords take is significant, and with rent collection and other property needs, it requires diligent work. Review the daily roles appropriately, so improvements may be implemented, or it may just work best in what that needs to be implemented.
When there is more than one bad rating in communication and tenant satisfaction issues, do more improvements to see if everyone can succeed in this plan of tenant action, especially when the current property manager lacks communication.
The Value of Certified Mail and Professional Legal Advice
Many industries, from hospitality to education, require success, and sometimes additional support may be needed, like additional mailing from different resources. Get copies for all, and know that you also might need an attorney’s advice when it has more critical terms with tenants and safety and health, especially.
Doing this will assist and provide tenants legal notice to improve steps that need attention to prevent legal, property, and health concerns. Always make sure your actions comply with fair housing laws.
Making the Final Call: Should You Fire Your Property Manager?
Is it really time to fire property manager? That answer varies depending on goals for improving tenants’ needs for properties or other requirements that they expect to improve relationships with tenants.
Be thorough in determining what is most desired in a plan to progress property goals that can succeed. If tenant issues continue despite attempts to improve communication, termination might be necessary.
Key Details
Ultimately, deciding to fire property manager requires reflection, honest assessment, documentation, and sometimes a dose of courage. Weigh your expectations and note how things should progress between all parties involved, like the manager and the property. Document all milestones and you’ll note benefits as needed or what requires steps that can prove goals, like consistent rent payments.
Remember that whether you’re seeking to self-manage or hire a new manager, having an action and list in place will lead to property needs or goals and other resources as appropriate. Evaluate when steps are best taken to know your success is a reality, including ongoing tenant issues.
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