Renting out your property comes with a range of responsibilities, so it’s important you have confidence and trust in the person managing your property on your behalf.
Being distanced from the day-to-day details of your property has its advantages, but a fine balance must be struck between things being taken care of, and you being completely out of the loop. Communication is key - it only takes one instance of crossed wires for trust to be questioned and for you to start considering whether you need a new property manager.
Your first contact with your property manager, when your rental goes on the market, should give you a clear indication of how things will work. This is when you can establish the structure of the relationship – what you want to be informed about, how often you want to hear from them and so on. Your property manager of course has the professional skill and expertise to navigate things quickly and easily as they happen, but should also be discerning about what things you need to be updated on in real time, and what can be noted down to report back on later in a general update. Knowing their skill set and trusting them to do as you wish is important - after all, that's why you’re paying property management fees! However, you should never be cautious or unsure about questioning what’s going on with your property.
If there’s been damage to your property, consecutive delayed rent payments, or a change to the tenants’ situation such as a new baby, a new pet, or a completely new housemate, you should expect to be informed immediately. If you find out about any of these things when it’s too late – i.e. a badly handled incident has permanently damaged the property, or tenants suddenly disappeared due to rental arrears – then you may need to consider whether your property manager has been as diligent as you expected.
A property manager can do all the things you need in a fraction of the time it would take you, and is also much better positioned to solve problems as a professional and objective third party. However, they may not always do it the way you would like. Situations that permanently impact on the appearance or value of your property, or the status of your lease agreement should ultimately be put to you for final decisions – especially when you’re the one paying for the solutions they implement.
In most cases, landlords discover that the cost of having a property manager is absolutely worth the investment. Not only can they navigate the complexity of forms and paperwork, they also ensure boundaries are established between you and the tenant, make all the proper checks of a tenant's history, as well as take care of the important legal and financial details that are much better taken care of by someone who knows that they’re doing.