
Hiring a property manager is a big decision. Are you ready to delegate your landlord duties to an experienced team of professionals?
If you’re only managing one single-family home, those duties may not be too overwhelming. But if you’re renting out multiple units, you may need a property manager.
In addition to collecting rent and handling maintenance and emergency repairs, a property manager will take the unexpected and stressful issues off your hands. Here are three common, yet challenging issues, if you’re not a professional.
1. Evictions
Nobody expects to evict a tenant, but sometimes it’s the only thing left to do. Evicting a tenant can be a long, drawn-out process. In addition to filing a lawsuit, you’ll have to contend with drama, stress, and even potential retaliatory damage to your property.
There are two primary advantages to having a property manager handle your evictions: You won’t be targeted by tenant abuse, and property managers know the laws.
Evictions are touchy. If you don’t do everything by the book, from the way you give notice to how you file your paperwork, your tenant could win the legal privilege of remaining on your property indefinitely.
Performing an eviction properly is especially critical while the coronavirus pandemic eviction moratoriums are being extended and canceled by various legal and legislative entities. For example, in Texas, many cities – like Katy and Austin – have seen mass evictions.
However, landlords aren’t following the rules. In Austin, landlords aren’t allowed to evict a tenant unless the latter is five or more months behind on rent.
Reports have surfaced that tenants who are only a few months behind are being evicted, however. Some Texas landlords have stopped accepting rental assistance payments and are also evicting tenants illegally.
Landlords who refuse to accept rental assistance are required to certify they will not evict their tenant(s). Apparently, that’s just not happening these days.
In the future, all the landlords who broke the law will likely be held accountable in court and forced to pay significant judgments. It’s only a matter of time until that happens.
If you’re a landlord, you cannot afford to evict someone without observing the law. You need a property manager to get it done right.
2. Disgusting and filthy situations
Most landlords don’t expect tenants to be neat freaks, but they also don’t expect them to be absolute pigs. Unfortunately, some tenants create the most unbelievably filthy situations.
What would you do if you entered a vacant unit and discovered your tenant’s dog had used the rug as a potty pad and the tenant sprayed a silicone sealant over the droppings to seal in the smell? It sounds like a tall tale, but this scenario has actually happened to certain landlords.
What would you do if a tenant called you for a repair and you discovered they’d been hoarding all of their trash for the last five years? If you don’t want to deal with these types of disgusting and filthy situations (and why would you?), you need a property manager.
A property manager will enter your property, assess the situation, and call the proper contractor to remedy the situation. They’ll let you know when it’s taken care of and you won’t have to enter the premises at all.
3. Emotionally charged tenants
It’s hard to imagine a tenant taking a swing at you, or charging you with a knife. But it happens often enough.
Tenants can get loud and become dangerous when they’re upset. Most of the time, they only get upset when their concerns are brushed aside and they’ve had enough of being ignored by a poor landlord.
However, even good landlords who do everything to support their tenants can get caught in the middle of a renter’s emotional storm. In Maine, a tenant assaulted his landlord, and when police arrived to arrest him, he punched an officer in the face and escaped through a window.
It’s unclear what prompted the altercation, although it’s common for fights to arise when landlords have to hold tenants accountable for violating their lease.
Tenants who get triggered into committing violence are difficult to deal with. It’s exhausting and hazardous to interact with them in person.
A property management company will have the experience necessary to handle such situations calmly and professionally, and to de-escalating them.
A property manager will make your life easier
You’ll face many unknown situations as a landlord, including scenarios that may make your stomach turn. If you haven’t encountered anything like that yet, if you wait long enough, you probably will.
That’s why you need a property manager. When you hire one, they’ll be the point of contact for everything your tenants need. If an unexpected situation arises, you won’t have to get involved; your property manager will let you know when the matter has been resolved.