How do I fire a property manager who is unreponsive?

[Victoria Z.]

Hi all, I need to fire the current property manager, I was not able to get in touch with him as he never picks up the phone. How do I do it so I can 1) get him to release the rent for this month  2) have the tenant pay me directly starting next month and 3)have the manager transfer over the deposit and the keys?  How do I do this if he never picks up the call? is there something I can do? I suppose to can threaten with a bad online review, but is there something else I can do? I feel like I am kind of held hostage. 

[Joe Norman]

Concur with Richard's post above - the firs step is to check your management agreement to determine what it says about termination. At that point you can take the appropriate steps which should be done in a verifiable way (certified letter AND email, IMO). At that point notify the tenant (CC'ing the PM) of the date that management will change over and where they should start paying their rent.

Collecting documents (lease agreement, rental license, lead certs, etc) from your current manager may be a PIA, but well worth it if they are not meeting your expectations.

One more thought - if you live in a state where PMs are required to be licensed you can file a complaint with the regulatory board.

Good luck!