How to choose a property manager for your rental in 2027

This guide is for owners of long-term rentals in Canada and the US who are choosing a property manager. The short answer is to interview two or three managers, ask each the same questions about tenants, repairs, money and communication, and choose the one whose answers are specific about your home and who can back them up with a sample statement, their agreement and current owners you can call. Fees matter too, and what a property manager costs walks through comparing quotes over a full year.

Most managers will say they find great tenants and handle repairs quickly. The difference shows up in the detail of their answers, so it helps to know what a good one sounds like.

Leah inherited her parents’ duplex last spring. Both units are rented, she lives two hours away and she has never been a landlord. She books calls with three property managers and writes down the same questions for each.

Notice how they handle your first message

Before the first call, Leah has already learned something. One company replied to her inquiry the same evening and asked about the duplex. Another took four days. The third replied quickly but with a form letter.

How a manager treats you before you’re a client is a fair guide to how they’ll treat your residents and applicants. Some managers now answer around the clock, and some use AI agents such as Omnia by Tuze to reply to every renter, resident and owner in the company’s voice and book showings and calls, so a message on a Sunday night gets a real answer.

Ask how they’ll find and keep good tenants

Both of Leah’s units are rented, but one lease ends in the summer. She asks each manager how they’d fill it.

A good answer is specific. They’ll tell you how they’d price the unit, using comparable listings nearby, where they’d advertise it, how quickly they reply to renters and book showings, and how they screen applicants, from the credit report to calls with past landlords. If you want to know what that screening should involve, how to screen tenants in Canada covers it step by step.

Ask about keeping tenants too. A manager who renews good residents and deals with their requests quickly saves you a vacancy and a leasing fee, which is often worth more than a lower monthly percentage.

Ask who handles repairs, and when they’ll call you

Repairs are where owners most often feel a manager’s work, and where answers vary most. Leah asks three things.

Who answers a resident who reports a leak at 11pm? A good answer names how residents reach them after hours and what happens next, such as a reply that night and a trade booked as soon as possible.

How much can they spend without asking her? Most agreements set an amount, often a few hundred dollars, and anything above it comes to the owner for approval, except in an emergency. Make sure the number suits your home and how involved you want to be.

Do they add a markup to repair invoices, and do they use their own vendors? Neither is wrong, but you should know.

Ask how the money works

Leah wants to know when she’ll be paid, what she’ll see each month and where the rent sits before it reaches her.

A good manager can tell you the day of the month owners are paid and show you a sample statement with rent in, costs out and what the owner received. Ask whether they hold owners’ money and residents’ deposits in a trust account, separate from their own. In many US states, and provinces such as Alberta and BC, managing rentals for others requires a licence, and the regulator keeps a public register you can check.

Ask how often you’ll hear from them

Some owners want a call about every repair. Leah wants a short update each month and a call only when something needs her decision.

Ask what the manager tells owners without being asked, such as a lease coming up for renewal, a planned rent increase or a repair that’s likely soon. A manager who brings these up early saves you surprises. Then ask how you reach them, and how quickly you’ll hear back.

Ask to see their statement, agreement and references

By the end of her three calls, Leah has good answers from two of them. To choose between those two, she asks each for four things:

• A sample monthly owner statement
• The full fee schedule in writing
• The management agreement she would sign
• Two or three current owners she can call

The agreement is worth reading closely against what you heard on the call. Check the repair limit, the fees, how long it runs and how either side can end it, including any fee for leaving. If the call said one thing and the agreement says another, ask about it before you sign.

When you call the owners, ask what they’d change about the manager as well as what they like. Owners with a home like yours are the most useful.

Leah’s choice

Both managers send everything. One is a little cheaper, but its agreement locks her in for two years with a fee to leave early. The other asked the most about the duplex on the first call, sent a statement she understood without explanation, and one of its owners, who also lives out of town, told her she hasn’t needed to visit her rental in a year.

Leah signs with the second. Her first statement arrives on the day they said it would, and they’ve already called her about the lease that ends in the summer.

If you’re choosing a manager for your own rental, we can help.

Tuze makes the software property managers use to run their business, from leasing and rent to AI teammates that answer renters and residents in minutes, at any hour. For your home, that means good tenants found sooner, repairs handled quickly and residents who stay longer.

Through Find a property manager, we’ll introduce you to a trusted manager near you who runs on Tuze.