One of the greatest myths in the real estate industry is that changing management agencies is a time consuming and complicated process, when in fact, it’s quite the opposite…

All too often Landlords stay with their managing agent despite being unhappy with the service they deliver and the fees they charge. 

Once you have found a suitable agency to take over the management of your investment property, a termination letter needs to be drafted and sent to the existing agency. This is often sent via email and if you’re not sure what to write, your new agent can often help draft the email for you.

At this point a great idea is to copy your new agent into the email communication and instruct the existing agency to communicate with your new agent from this point moving forward.

(Note: depending on your contract with the existing agency, you’re often required to wait 30 days before the files and keys can be collected. Some times this can be 60 or 90 days, so it’s important to check this when signing a management agreement with agencies.)

Once the termination letter has been received and collection date specified the new agent will arrange to collect the file from the agency containing all important and relevant information such as the tenants contact details, copies of lease documents, rental payment history, entry condition reports, photos and details of outstanding maintenance items.

The new managing agent will contact the tenant and set up their payment schedule for rent. They should also perform a routine inspection as soon as possible as to address any problems or issues the tenant has at that time. This is an important part because if they rely solely on the entry condition report from the other agency their could potentially be problems at the end of the tenancy.

In our case, there is no fee for a transfer of management and this is the case for most agencies.

From experience, landlords looking to move agencies are often disappointed with the communication from their property manager and the lack of care given to their investment. Secondly to this, fees can be extravagant and landlords can feel they are being taken advantage of. When considering a change, ask your self some of these questions and see if you would still be satisfied to stay with your current agent.

• Is your property manager easily accessible and do you have regular communication from them in a timely manner?
• Does your property manager conduct open inspections on a Saturday & Sunday when your property is vacant?
• Are your existing tenants ever in arrears?
• Are you happy with the efficiency and quality of maintenance repairs on your tenanted property?
• Does your property manager conduct routine home inspections regularly and are they documented in detail to ensure nothing is missed?
• Is your existing agent assessing the rent annually to ensure it stays in line with the current market?