Property owner cannot keep an extra set of keys per the PM contract

[Janice R.]

Hello all,

I have been self managing my investment properties for many years successfully for years.   I respect the tenants their privacy and I have never "show up".  The one time I needed to get into the property quickly was at the tenant's request.  So, I'm not a pesky landlord.

Recently, in looking in to property management, I found out that the owner is not allowed to have a key to the property.  Is this the usual requirement?  The owner has the ultimate responsibility of the property - the PM is just an agent.  Not having keys on my property is nutty (in my opinion).  

What's your experience?

Thanks, Janice R.
 

[Richard F.]

Aloha,

We will only reluctantly provide an owner keys, and we rekey at nearly every turnover (with only one key needed per unit, no matter how many locks, unless the owner accepts liability for not rekeying by initialing the option on management agreement).

Owner liability is one issue...if there is any criminal act that occurs, they would need to be identified as a person potentially having access. Honestly, if an owner is a control freak over keys, they are probably hard to deal with in all aspects of the relationship. It just is never good for 99% of Owners to be in contact with tenants that are under PM services. Of course if varies by locale, but my tenants always rent from our company; and our Owners always contract with us to "manage" the rental. They actually have very limited legal authority in the normal course of our management (such as limiting expenditures and approving certain contracts).

As a PM it is important to have a system to ensure you always have an original, correct, spare for every unit, and manage the handling of keys, especially for occupied, but also for all units. Security is #1 for most tenants.