Questions to Ask Property Manager
Questions for the property manager already looking after your rental, useful at handover and at a yearly review: inspection findings, repair spend, arrears, likely failures, renewal prospects, and reserve funds.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What is the best way to reach you, and what counts as urgent enough to call?
Why ask it
Settle this before the first emergency rather than during it. Also ask what happens if you do not hear back, since an agreed fallback, their manager, an office line, prevents a small problem sitting in an inbox for a week.
When did someone last go inside the property, and can I see the photographs?
Why ask it
Drive-by checks catch nothing. If the last interior visit was more than a year ago, or there are no dated photographs, you have no evidence of condition and no basis for a deposit deduction later.
What is on this property that you expect to fail in the next two years?
Why ask it
Water heaters, roofs, and boilers announce themselves to anyone paying attention. A manager who can name two or three items with rough ages is watching the asset. One who says everything is fine has not looked.
What did we spend on repairs last year, and what were the three largest items?
Why ask it
The total tells you whether the property is drifting toward capital work; the three items tell you whether spending was reactive or planned. Ask for the invoices if the number surprises you.
What is the rent now, and what are comparable units nearby letting for?
Why ask it
Rents drift below market a little at a time, and the manager is the first to know. Ask for two or three current listings by address, because a general claim that you are about right is unverifiable.
How long is left on the lease, and do you think the tenant will renew?
Why ask it
Managers usually have a read on this from repair requests, payment habits, and offhand remarks. Six weeks of warning is the difference between a smooth handover and a month of vacancy.
What has the tenant asked for that we have not done?
Why ask it
The list of unmet requests is where turnover starts, and it rarely appears in a statement. Cheap items on that list are often the best money you can spend on retention.
What complaints or problems has the tenant raised this year?
Why ask it
Ask for the log rather than a summary. A pattern of repeat calls about the same issue means the underlying fault was never fixed, only quietened, and it will surface again more expensively.
Which repairs did you authorize without contacting me, and why?
Why ask it
Their answer shows whether the agreed spending limit is being respected. Regular small jobs just under the threshold, from the same contractor, is a pattern worth examining rather than assuming.
Who did the last three jobs, and did we get more than one quote?
Why ask it
Single-quote work with one favored contractor is normal for small repairs and expensive above a few thousand dollars. Ask what the threshold for competitive quotes is and whether it was applied.
What is the arrears position, month by month?
Why ask it
A running total conceals a pattern of consistently late payment, which is an early signal of a tenancy in trouble. Ask on what day rent has actually landed for each of the last six months.
How much is held in reserve, and what is it earmarked for?
Why ask it
Reserves quietly grow or get consumed without ever being discussed. Ask for the current balance, the top-up rule, and whether anything is committed but not yet spent.
Which of my documents are out of date: registration, safety certificates, insurance, permits?
Why ask it
Compliance items expire on their own schedule, and lapses tend to be discovered by an inspector or after an incident. A manager who tracks expiry dates can list them; one who cannot has left the risk with you.
If the tenant gave notice next month, how long to re-let and at what rent?
Why ask it
You want days and a figure, based on their own recent lettings rather than a market feeling. This is also the number you need to judge whether a below-market renewal is actually the cheaper option.
What would you spend money on here if it were your property?
Why ask it
Asked this way, managers give franker answers than when asked what needs doing. They usually name the item that generates complaints, delays lettings, or keeps breaking.
What is the one change that would most improve the return on this property?
Why ask it
Forcing a single answer separates a considered view from a wish list. If the answer is only "raise the rent," they may not have looked at costs, vacancy, or tenant quality at all.
What do I do that makes your job harder?
Why ask it
Slow approvals and unrealistic repair budgets are the usual answers, and both cost you money in vacancy and tenant goodwill. Asking directly is the only reliable way to hear it.
Who covers your properties when you are away, and do they know this one?
Why ask it
Vacation cover with no access to the file is cover in name only. Ask for the colleague's name and whether they have ever been to the property.
How does this property compare with others you manage in the area?
Why ask it
You get a benchmark you cannot otherwise obtain: whether your rent, vacancy, and repair spend are typical. Managers can usually answer honestly because none of it reflects badly on them.
What should I be asking you that I have not?
Why ask it
Kept for last, this tends to produce the item they have been meaning to raise: a rule change, a deteriorating neighbor, a tenant thinking about moving. Most managers have one and few volunteer it unprompted.
Keeping oversight of a managed rental
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
A workable rhythm
Read the monthly statement the month it arrives
Errors and unexplained charges are easy to query in week one and awkward to unpick a year later at tax time. Ten minutes a month is the whole job.
Hold one proper conversation a year
Thirty minutes on rent, condition, arrears, compliance, and upcoming failures. Managers of well-run portfolios expect this. It is also when you find out whether your manager still knows your property.
Ask for interior photographs annually
Dated images are your record of condition, your evidence in a deposit dispute, and the fastest way to notice a problem nobody has mentioned.
Visit yourself every few years
Not to inspect the tenant, but to see the building, the street, and the neighboring properties. Statements do not show a failing roofline or a changing block.
Things worth watching in the statements
- Repeat repairs to the same item, which usually means the cause was never fixed
- Small charges clustering just below the approval limit
- The same contractor on every job, with no competitive quotes above a few thousand dollars
- Rent arriving later each month, which precedes arrears
- A rent that has not moved in two or three years while local listings have
- Reserve top-ups deducted without a matching explanation
Common owner mistakes
Refusing small repairs and losing a good tenant
A turnover typically costs a month of rent plus cleaning, painting, and a leasing fee. Weigh a few hundred dollars of requested work against that figure before saying no.
Assuming compliance is handled
Registration and safety certificates often remain the owner's legal responsibility even under full management. Confirm in writing which items the manager files on your behalf.
Only making contact when something is wrong
Managers prioritize owners they speak to. One scheduled annual conversation buys more attention than several complaints.
Leaving the spending limit undefined
Without an agreed figure, either you are approving minor repairs or large ones are proceeding without you. Set it, and revisit it after the first year.