Property Management

In order to consider hiring a property management firm you should know what a property management company does.

The most important role of a property management firm is that of liaison between the landlord and the management company operating on the landlord's behalf and tenant. Duties of property management include accepting rent, responding to and addressing maintenance issues, book-keeping for landlords and providing a unbiased median for those landlords desiring to distance themselves from getting to emotionally involved with their tenants.

There are many factors to this profession, including but not necessarily limited to participating in or initiating litigation with tenants, contractors and insurance agencies. Litigation is at times considered a separate function, set aside for attorneys or litigators. Although a person will be responsible for this in his/her job description, there most likely will be an attorney working under a property manager. Special attention is given to landlord/tenant law and most commonly evictions, non-payment, harassment, reduction of pre-arranged services, and public nuisance are legal subjects that gain the most amount of attention from property managers. Therefore, it is a necessity that a property manager be current with applicable municipal, county and state laws and practices.

In the US, most states require property management companies to be licensed real estate brokers if they are collecting rent on the owners behalf or marketing properties on the MLS (metro listing service(s)) or negotiating leases. Property managers can be a licenced realtor but must be working in capacity under a real estate broker (if practicing in a state that requires a brokers license to participate in property management).