Review a property management agreement and its exit terms

Map the service scope

List the properties, units, responsible contacts, and included services. Distinguish leasing, routine management, bookkeeping, inspections, maintenance, and legal coordination. Identify work requiring separate approval or a separate provider.

Specify repair spending authority, emergency exceptions, vendor selection, and any disclosed markups or related businesses. Clarify who holds funds and which records an owner can inspect. Check current local licensing and trust-account obligations.

Read fees, renewal, and termination together

Review when each fee is earned and whether the agreement renews automatically. Check notice requirements, permitted delivery method, early-exit charges, continuing placement fees, and the treatment of open work. Use the actual contract dates rather than a general assumed notice period.

Before termination, obtain qualified advice for disputed terms. Sending a brief email may not satisfy the agreed notice process. Preserve the agreement, proof of delivery, response, and confirmed end date.

Reconcile a controlled handoff

Inventory signed leases, amendments, applicant records subject to retention requirements, balances, deposits, keys, access permissions, open maintenance, notices, and owner statements. Identify the party responsible for each item and its transfer date.

Reconcile actual funds received against the statements. Notify residents of independently verifiable new contacts and payment instructions through the appropriate process. Revoke old access only when the handoff is ready and authorized. Confirm unresolved items rather than marking the transfer complete from a promise.

Choose the agreement by its actual work

An agreement defines the relationship between the owner and the manager. Compare the work you need with the work you will retain; a contract label alone does not establish the service scope.

• Leasing-only: application handling, screening and lease preparation, with ongoing operations assigned separately.
• Full-service: a broader set of leasing, rent, maintenance and reporting duties, with exclusions made explicit.
• Residential: services tailored to homes, apartments, units or rooms and their applicable housing requirements.
• Commercial: services tailored to office, retail or industrial property and its distinct operating requirements.
• Maintenance and repair: defined upkeep and contractor coordination, without assuming rent collection or leasing is included.
• Consulting: advice on specified questions, with the owner retaining implementation and daily operations.

These descriptions can overlap. Name the responsible person for every retained task and obtain qualified review of the actual proposed agreement.

Itemize the fee calculation

Record whether each fee is fixed, percentage-based or a combination; identify the amount or calculation base, when it is earned, when it is payable and whether it applies during vacancy. Separate management, placement, renewal, inspection, maintenance coordination, setup and exit charges where proposed.

List vendor markups, reimbursable expenses and any reserve the owner must fund. Ask for a worked statement using your proposed terms so the same repair or placement is not charged twice. Compare actual proposals rather than assuming a nationwide fee percentage.

Assign decisions and an emergency contact

Define who may set or change rent, approve an applicant, sign a lease, authorize repairs and issue notices. Record approval limits, a response channel and what happens when the owner cannot be reached. Give residents a repair contact and name a backup for urgent physical work.

Specify the emergency exception, spending limit where applicable, notification timing and the receipts or incident record the manager must supply. Schedule lawful inspections and document their findings; a calendar reminder is not proof that an inspection or repair occurred.

Make screening and communication responsibilities explicit

Identify who publishes the criteria, receives applications, obtains reports, reviews relevant evidence and communicates the decision. Keep criteria consistent, accommodation requests in the appropriate process and applicant information protected. Assign any required disclosures and adverse-action notices rather than assuming a report provider handles them.

Agree on ordinary owner updates, resident response channels and how unresolved work is escalated. Rentari supplies software and written guidance; screening decisions, local attendance and any licensed management remain assigned responsibilities.

Require records behind the owner statement

Set the reporting frequency and delivery method for rent received, unpaid balances, expenses, management fees, reserves and deposit records. Identify which invoices, receipts and reconciliations the owner can inspect, who resolves a discrepancy and how records remain accessible after the agreement ends.

For vendors, identify who obtains quotes, approves work, checks completion and reviews invoices. Disclose related businesses and markups before approval. A paid invoice does not establish that work was completed or that the books reconcile.

Review insurance and local requirements before signing

Confirm the proposed use with the insurer and check the manager and contractors' relevant licenses and coverage where required. Review liability allocation, exclusions, indemnity and insurance evidence with qualified local advisers; a contract clause does not guarantee coverage for a particular loss.

Review applicable licensing, fund handling, housing, notice and signing requirements using the property and actual terms. Do not assume notarization is always required or that a signature alone resolves an unlawful term. Self-management also retains the owner's legal duties.

Prepare a notice from the actual agreement

Use these editable fields to prepare a notice after reviewing the agreement's permitted termination or nonrenewal route, recipient, delivery method and timing. They are a drafting aid, not a determination that you may end the contract. Resolve disputed fees or authority with qualified local advice before sending.

Date: [actual date]
To: [required recipient and notice address]
Re: [agreement date, property and units]
Notice concerns: [termination or nonrenewal under the applicable clause]
Effective date: [date calculated from the reviewed terms and required process]

Please confirm receipt, the applicable end date and the contact responsible for the handoff. Please propose dates for the final statement, supporting records, funds and deposit reconciliation, keys and access transfer, and a list of unfinished work. Send the response through [verified contact method].

Adapt the wording to the actual agreement; retain the exact notice and delivery evidence. Do not state that all balances are paid or rights are released unless that is established and intended. The Texas Real Estate Commission's private-contract FAQ directs agreement questions to a private attorney; it is not a nationwide termination rule.

Ending a management-service appointment and closing a software account concern different agreements. Review any separate subscription cancellation, record-export and access conditions before changing the account. Reconcile disputed financial items and continuing responsibilities rather than treating a general fee example or a paid invoice as final settlement.

Put the transition in a dated task list: responsible person, record or amount, transfer deadline, verification and unresolved item. Keep resident contact, emergency coverage and payment cutover continuous. Follow the self-management handoff checklist and check the first payment cycle against both sets of records. Ending the manager's appointment does not itself document an agreed change to a resident's lease.

Keep learning

• Questions before hiring a manager
• Switch to self-management
• Bank reconciliation

Common questions