One-time fee charged for evaluating rental properties for possible purchase or evaluating rent rates for possible investors working with other real estate brokers.

A fee received from other management companies that manage properties in areas that you don’t. When you receive a lead for property management in an area that you don’t manage in have a list of management companies that will pay you a referral fee for passing on the lead to them.

One-time fee charged during the client onboarding process. This fee helps cover the time and expenses associated with onboarding a new client.

When onboarding a client who has a current resident in place on a lease other than your approved lease you will have additional risk, time involved and possible legal issues that are outside of your normal scope of management. This fee is charged to the client for the extra care you will have to take to manage the property until the current lease expires and you can get the tenant on your approved lease.

If your company manages properties with home warranties, there is more work and less control over the maintenance process. A home warranty onboarding fee allows the management company to recoup some of the time and energy required to manage this third party arrangement.

There are two common ways that advertising fees are charged: A fee charged any time the property is available for rent and the property is advertised or a fee charged on a monthly/quarterly/available basis that covers a portion of the property management company’s advertising expenses and is not specifically tied to a specific advertising effort.

Monthly fee earned for managing a rental property for the landlord including the processing of collected rents.

One-time fee for securing a qualified tenant. Typically a percentage of the rent or a flat fee. Consider prorating your leasing fee to account for terms longer or shorter than your typical term. For example, if you sign a two year lease you should prorate your typical annual leasing fee and charge for 24 months. If you are signing a 6 month lease you should bill for 6/12ths of your typical leasing fee and if you are renewing a tenant on a month to month lease you should be billing your 1/12th of your annual leasing fee.

The most common reason for eviction is non-payment of rent by the tenant. When a landlord is not receiving rent they have less cash-flow to pay for the additional expenses of the eviction. The Eviction protection fee is a monthly or annual fee charged for shifting the costs of an eviction from the client to the property management firm. Eviction protection is provided to landlords who want the comfort of knowing that, in the event that an eviction needs to take place, they will not have additional expenses typically associated with performing the legal portion of the eviction. There are details regarding a jury trial that you should address in your eviction protection program and spell out what is covered under this fee and what is not. You may also consider placing a cap on your coverage.

The Rent Loss Protection Program is an extension of the Eviction Protection Program and is typically only available to those clients enrolling in the Eviction Protection Program. Rent Loss Protection is provided to a client in the event that an eviction must be performed on their property. Not only are clients faced with the expense of an eviction but they typically are not receiving rent during the time of the eviction. For clients enrolled in the Rent Loss Protection Program the property management company will pay to the client the rent for the agreed upon period of time once the eviction is initiated. Any rent recovered by the management company from the tenant will first go to the property management company to compensate them for the rent paid out to the client and then the remainder will be paid to the client. The rent loss protection should only be initiated once an official eviction has been filed.

A fee charged for each new tenant move in. This fee covers the coordination of the tenant move in and educating the tenant on how to properly use the features of the home. This can be done onsite or via video and checklists.

A fee per invoice charged above and beyond what the vendor invoice states. All markups or coordination fees should be clearly disclosed in your property management agreement. This fee can be charged as a flat fee or a percentage of the invoice. You may want to consider having a cap on the fee charged in cases of large expenses.

If a client insists on using their own preferred vendor and your policy allows that, onboard the vendor as you would any other vendor, making sure that they have the necessary license and insurance. If this is a vendor that you must remember to send out to to their property there is an increase in opportunity for error and this fee covers the increased risk. It can be charged per vendor or per occurance requiring follow up.

A home warranty coordination fee is typically charged to the client per call that is necessary to resolve the issue with the home warranty company. It is not unheard of for the management company to have to make numerous calls and remain on hold for hours in total when utilizing the clients home warranty service.

A one-time fee for each lease renewal that is signed on the property. This fee should not only represent the amount of time that it takes to process the lease renewal but also the skill and care involved in managing the tenant relationship for the previous year, encouraging the tenant to stay for another lease term and negotiating any rent increases. The focus should be on the value the client receives from not having a vacancy, not having turnover costs, and any increased rent rate not on the amount of effort it takes your company to coordinate the lease renewal paperwork.

A one-time fee for each court appearance, including case preparation. Can be based on an hourly rate or a flat fee.

A fee charged any time a property manager is involved in an insurance claim, whether coordinating with tenants, landlord or vendors. This can be a percentage of the claim or a flat fee per incident requiring the management company’s involvement.

Some clients want to pay for periodic property inspections and others do not. If a property management firm separates periodic inspections from their normal management duties the client is able to decide if he/she would like to pay for this service and how many times a year he/she would like this service performed, if at all.

A fee per use for equipment owned or arranged by the property management company and used at the client’s property.

A fee charged for creating a marketing video for the client’s property.

A fee charged for shooting, processing, sharing and storing a Move In inspection or Move Out inspection video.

An annual fee for preparing the year end statement and preparation of the required form 1099.

Processing a paper check for a client creates inefficiencies in operations and requires additional time, energy and creates additional liability if the check is lost or stolen and you have to make a stop payment claim with the bank.

Providing a year end / holiday gift to the client’s residents improves the relationship with the resident, and increases the percentage of lease renewal. By coordinating the delivery of a restaurant gift card and two movie tickets you can charge an administrative fee for this program. In addition, often these tickets and gift cards can be purchased in bulk at a discount creating even more profit for the management company.

Vendor discounts can be negotiated with the vendor. These discounts are offered off of their normal list price and can then be retained by the property management company as a profit.

When managing an inherited resident there is extra work and additional risk to manage the property and the resident under a non-standard lease. This fee is charged monthly until the management company is able to convert the resident to the company’s standard lease.

A fee charged for each tenant move out. This fee covers the coordination of the tenant move out and documentation of the condition of the property at the time of vacancy. Documentation typically includes a move out walkthrough form along with photos and/or video.

Most companies have a standard date each month that the rent is processed and sent to the client after paying any outstanding expenses. In the event that a client wants or needs to have the rent processed before your standard date you will need to modify your existing system to make this possible. A monthly fee is appropriate and earned for the additional time and care that is taken.

Attending HOA meetings is outside the scope of most property management and is not usually covered under a normal management fee. This fee is charged if you attend an HOA meeting on behalf of one or more of your clients.

If your company manages utilities or pays bills on behalf of your client this fee compensates for the additional time, effort and liability.

This fee is charged to the tenant and/or client every three, four or six months for having the management company coordinate the furnace filter replacement. If the management company is coordinating the replacement of the filter it increases the odds that the filter is being replaced, prolonging the life of the furnace and providing cleaner air for the tenant and it also allows a trusted vendor to access the property to look for lease violations and verify the condition of the property.

A one-time fee for processing the termination of the management agreement and preparing the file to be transferred back to the landlord or to a new property manager. Often a management company offers a discount on the leasing fee when onboarding a management client vs a “lease only” arrangement and so it is reasonable to expect a termination fee to apply to assist the management company in recouping some of that lost income.

If you or your company doesn’t do property sales you are passing up on a huge income source. For example, if you do property sales you can earn a sales commission from assisting a buyer/investor in purchasing an investment property, manage the property for a few years and then assist them in selling the property.

Preparing a property for sale is not typically a part of normal property management, especially if another agent is going to be listing the property for sale. In the event that the client lists the property with another agent while you have the property under management, you may charge a coordination fee if you have to visit the property. This fee is charged for each visit to the property that is due to the property being on the sales market.

A document retention fee covers the additional costs associated with retaining records as required by law upon a client’s termination of services. This is typically charged one time at termination to cover the required number of years of storage.

If you or your company doesn’t do property sales, find a sales agent in your area that will pay a referral fee for each buyer or seller that they close that you have referred.

A fee charged to each resident applying for a rental in the property management company’s portfolio. Typically each resident 18 years old and older must be on the lease which requires each adult to complete a lease application. The application fee should cover the cost of any actual expenses, company time to process and profit where allowed.

A fee charged to a prospect for holding a property off the market while the prospect reviews the lease and pays the deposit. If the prospect doesn’t move forward with signing a lease you should have a policy of whether you are returning the holding fee, keeping a portion, or retaining the entire holding fee.

A fee charged when preparing a lease or lease renewal.

A fee charged to the resident to put down less than full deposit. Full deposit must still be guaranteed to client by management firm. The management firm is essentially guaranteeing the remainder of the deposit in the event that the resident exceeds the amount of deposit that the resident provides in accordance with the lease, typically up to one month’s rent. With a security deposit deferment the resident still remains responsible for the full deposit and the management company may call the full deposit due in the event that management is transferred to another management company or to the owner, the deferment simply allows the resident to pay a fee for each month that the full deposit is not held by the management company.

A fee charged to the resident in the event that they want to move in prior to your normal schedule. For example, if you require three business days between signing the lease and moving into the property and a resident wants to move in in two days and you are able to accommodate the request you can charge a rapid move-in fee for the convenience.

A fee charged to the resident to be able to move into a property outside of your normal move in process and access the property by lockbox.

A fee charged to the resident based on their application qualification scores. The higher the score the smaller the fee, the lower their scores the higher the risk and therefore a higher fee is appropriate to cover the additional risk associated with a less qualified applicant.

A fee charged to the resident who has a pet that qualifies lower on your pet application qualification scorecard.

A fee charged to the resident to split the deposit into multiple payments.

If the resident would like you to video the condition of the property on move-in to use as evidence of the condition of a property when they move in then you can offer to video and store the video as part of their file. They can then use this video to defend against any damage claims on move out.

an administrative fee charged when transferring a utility into the residents name at the beginning of the lease and out of the residents name when they vacate.

If you provide a convenient way for residents to pay the rent online charge a small convenience fee per transaction. Or conversely, if you prefer to require residents to pay online, if someone wants to pay by check or in person and you allow that, charge a convenience fee.

If you provide a resident benefits package for the resident you can package several services and bill monthly.

If you offer rentals without washer & dryer or refrigerator you can offer to facilitate the rental of these appliances. You can rent appliances in your company name and then leave them in the unit for the resident to use. The fee charged should cover the cost of the rental plus a reasonable profit for the amount of risk you are taking for having the appliances in your name or, preferably, You can purchase used appliances and then rent them to the resident keeping a reasonable profit.

This fee is similar to the Lease admin fee on the initial lease term but is charged for each lease renewal.

This fee is charged to the resident and/or client periodically for having the management company coordinate the furnace filter replacement.

If you allow a resident to have a pet on a property you may have additional tasks such as processing a pet application, lease pet addendum, additional inspections, additional work at resident move out from pet damage. This fee helps compensate your firm for the additional time and effort required to accommodate a resident’s desire to have a pet.

A fee charged on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis for inspecting a property for damage done by a resident’s pet. This is fee is charged as an inspection fee regardless of whether or not there is damage.

If you allow a resident to have a pet on a property you may want to perform a black light test prior to a resident moving in and then again when the resident vacates documenting the test with photos and/or video which will display any additional damage caused by pets relieving themselves indoors. This fee will cover the cost of performing the test and preparing the documentation.

A fee charged each time the resident pays any portion of the rent late after the due date or grace period.

When a set of roommates request to have one of the roommates removed from the lease and all remaining residents will still qualify to rent the property, prepare a Roommate removal addendum and charge a fee for processing the paperwork. Make sure to address the security deposit in the addendum.

When a resident requests to have a roommate added to the lease and the new resident qualifies to rent the property, prepare a Roommate Addition addendum and charge a fee for processing the paperwork. Make sure to address the security deposit in the addendum.

A Non-sufficient funds fee charged any time the resident makes a payment that does not clear. This could be due to a lack of funds or due to the resident entering their bank account information incorrectly in the online rent processing system.

A fee charged if you provide access to a resident who is locked out of their home or if they come to the office to check out a key. Consider one charge during business hours and an additional charge for after-hours access.

If the resident rekeys the property without the property manager’s consent or if the resident requests a rekeying of the property charge a rekeying fee. Some property management companies have this as a standard fee to the resident on each lease and the property is rekeyed at the residents expense either right before or right after occupancy.

This fee is charged to a resident when it is determined that they have or have had an unauthorized pet on the property.

This fee is charged to a resident who has an unauthorized occupant staying at the property. You may want to have a clause in your lease that addresses guasts, length of time a person qualifies as a guest and not an occupant, and the burden of proof for where the person in question resides.

If a resident refuses entry of the management company / authorized vendor, or misses an appointment to provide access to the property this fee compensates for lost time, revenue, or resources.

If the resident receives a violation of an HOA or other governing body like a city or local municipality, you will have to process the violation and coordinate the resolution and should be billed to the resident in addition to any fine the entity may charge.

When tenants communicate directly with the landlord, bypassing the management company it creates additional work and reduces the authority the management company has to properly manage the property. This fee should be put in place to enforce your policy that all communication goes through the management company.

If the resident fails to transfer a utility into their name as required by the lease this daily or one time fee compensates for the additional work and resources required to make sure that the resident places the utility in their name in accordance with the lease.

A monthly fee charged at the end of a lease term which allows a resident to continue renting the property on a month to month basis. This fee should typically be higher than what the resident would pay when signing a lease renewal since the uncertainty of when the property will be available.

Your lease should specify that you will process the Security Deposit Disposition with the latest date allowable by law. This allows you to have the most time to determine damage and process outstanding resident fees. In the event that a resident wants to shorten the time it takes to receive the Security Deposit Disposition and any funds due to be returned, offer the resident a Rapid Security Deposit Processing and charge an appropriate fee for accommodating the request.

An administration fee for managing a payment plan when a resident falls behind on rent or fees.

A fee charged to the resident when they fail to honor the full term of their lease and the property must be remarketed for rent. This is not simply a fee to get out of the lease, the resident remains responsible for the rent and utilities until the property is re-rented. This fee compensates the management company for the additional work involved in re-letting the property. Often, when collecting a re-letting fee from a resident, the leasing fee charged to the client is reduced by some percentage but the management company should be compensated more than a typical lease renewal for the extra work that the resident has caused the management company.

This fee covers the time it takes to complete a verification of rent form and send to a mortgage company or another property management company. A good policy is to only give rental verifications if a resident has already given proper notice to vacate.

A fee charged whenever a resident has violated the terms of the lease or any related governing documents and the violation must be posted on the property or a notice must be served.

If a resident holds over a property without a valid lease in place it will most likely cause extra time and effort for the management company to adjust vendor schedules, property walkthroughs, new leases, etc. and charging a Resident holdover fee will help compensate for this. You should make sure that the daily rent also applies so that your client keeps the rent and the management company keeps the resident holdover fee.

If the resident leaves trash inside the house or inside the garage and it must be removed from the property (this includes setting the property on the curb for normal trash pickup) charge a trash removal fee.

Allow the resident to move out without mowing the yard or shoveling the walk right before move out and charge a fee for coordinating with the vendor and of course add the actual vendor costs to the resident’s ledger. By planning this project ahead of time it allows the resident to have the flexibility to move without worrying about this activity while preparing to move and that this will be taken care of at a lesser price than if they waited until after they vacated and the expenses it is taken from the security deposit.

This fee is charged to the resident if/when the property management company files for eviction. This fee is added to any outstanding balance owed by the resident and is paid out using the security deposit or is sent to the collection agency as an administration / processing fee.

This fee is charged to the resident if/when the property management company files for eviction. This fee is added to any outstanding balance owed by the resident and is paid out using the security deposit or is sent to the collection agency as an administration / processing fee.

This fee is charged to the resident if/when the property management company files for eviction. If the resident would like to pay the outstanding balance instead of being evicted the lease reinstatement fee compensates the management company for the extra time and resources required to accommodate the resident’s request.

This fee is charged in the event that a resident fails to return all keys and access devices (garage door remotes, etc.) as required by the lease or spelled out in the move in / move out instructions.