Grounds for Firing a Property Manager

[Daniel Sabato]

I’ve got a 1-year contract with my property manager & then after the year expires it becomes month to month automatically. I want to get a new PM earlier though because the current PM is horrific. They take forever to respond, cannot secure contractors to make repairs, & their general lack of urgency is a major issue for me. I’m wondering what the laws are for situations like this? Do I need to get a lawyer for this separation or are these things that happen all the time & I can just let them know that I’m going in a different direction?

[Jeff Copeland]

I would lean towards "happens all the time", but the first thing from any attorney will be "what does your contract say". 

Is there an early termination clause? A financial penalty?

It's always best to understand the terms and conditions you agreed to in your PMA, and the work to make this a smooth and amicable transition and make sure things like security deposits and prepaid rent get transferred and accounted for correctly.

The timing is also crucial. You generally want to make the change after the current month's rent collections are complete - leaving enough time to notify the tenants of the changes before the following month's rent is due.