Fair Tenant Placement Pricing Structure

[Eric C.]

Standard structure is a % of 1st months rent for a PM to place a new tenant.  Included in this fee would be any agent commission if the tenant was represented by an agent.  If tenant finds property through many of the online websites, no commission is paid and PM company keeps full amount (ie. double-dipping).  Since the agent commission is a high percentage of this amount, how can a landlord ensure that the PM company is unbiased during the tenant search phase. 

Are any PM companies using a more "fair" compensation structure that would prevent bias during the tenant search phase?  The only structure I can think of is instead of using a fixed % of 1st months rent, use a fixed fee + agent commission (if applicable) structure.  Any thoughts?