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When you are not in the day to day, it is hard to know if your property is being managed properly.
You don’t see the work that is being done — or not being done.
The effects of poor management can take years to show up. Everything looks fine on the surface because the rent keeps landing in your bank account. A couple of years later the tenant moves out. Bond refunded. You walk through and the place is neglected. Damage everywhere. Deep clean needed. You spend ten thousand on maintenance and cleaning to get the property back to its original condition. On top of that you lose weeks rent in vacancy.
All of it could have been avoided with good management.
That is why you look for indicators. How they present maintenance. How they resolve your concerns. How often you get a new manager. Here are nine indicators, ranked from biggest clue to smallest.
Good sign: They triage before contacting you. They check what the tenant has already tried, suggest the likely cause, confirm who is responsible and why, propose the trade they’ll use, and give a ballpark cost. You approve a plan, not a problem.
Red flag: Inbox forwarding. “The air con is not working — are you happy for me to get someone out?” No context. No price range. No pre-work.
Why it matters: You should approve maintenance with confidence, not hope. Inbox forwarding is not management. Ask for plans, not problems.
Good sign: They can restate your question in plain English, even if you struggled to explain it. They resolve it within one business day, no back and forth. If they dropped the ball, they own it and fix it fast.
Red flag: Vague replies. Endless back and forth. You have to chase them for the answer.
Why it matters: If they cannot explain things clearly, they are either not experienced, not organised, or only know how to tick boxes instead of managing an investment property. Slow or unclear answers are early warnings of poor management.
Good sign: Your manager has been in place for three years or more and can confidently answer questions — even about issues that happened before their time.
Red flag: A new manager every year. You repeat the same history again and again.
Why it matters: High turnover drains context. The quirks of your property are forgotten, things get missed, and previous agreements vanish. Worse, constant churn usually points to a bigger problem. The agency does not value property management or they discount their fees so heavily they cannot afford to keep good staff. It is a vicious cycle.
Good sign: At least two routine inspections per year, plus one around three months after new tenants move in. If an inspection is going to be skipped, they consult with you before it happens (for example, long-term excellent tenants in place).
Red flag: Only one routine inspection a year. Reports that are generic, missing rooms or photos. If you can spot issues yourself that they never mentioned or planned for, that is a clear red flag.
Why it matters: Inspections are not just about checking how tenants look after your property. They are also about spotting maintenance you need to handle. Small problems turn into big, costly ones over time if they are ignored.
Good sign: They raise maintenance from inspections, not just from tenant requests. They flag when the property is starting to look tired and come with a plan before tenants begin complaining.
Red flag: The only maintenance you ever hear about comes directly from tenants.
Truth: Most renters do not report everything. They worry it will trigger a rent increase or they think they are doing you a favour. Long term, that silence costs you more.
Why it matters: Preventative work is always cheaper. It is better to paint something than to replace the whole thing.
Good sign: You can log into an app and see everything in one place — the lease, inspection reports, rent status, maintenance history, and all correspondence past and present.
Red flag: Updates only come via scattered emails. No single source of truth.
Why it matters: Transparency is confidence. If a manager has nothing to hide, they will make everything available to you anytime. If you cannot access it easily, chances are they are still running on filing cabinets and spreadsheets — and that means things slip through the cracks.
Good sign: If rent is late, they contact you with the reason, the plan, and a likely catch-up date. They collect what they can now, then chase the rest.
Red flag: You notice the rent missing from your bank account before they do. Worse, they have no idea your tenant is late until you call them.
Why it matters: Staying on top of rent arrears sets a precedent with tenants. If they know late rent is followed up like clockwork, they prioritise paying it — even when times are tough.
Good sign: They plan lease dates so they do not end in December or January. If a lease is due to end then, they discuss it with you first and adjust the term before it goes out.
Red flag: Fixed-term leases always default to twelve months, even if that means ending at the worst time of year.
Why it matters: If your tenant moves out over Christmas, you will probably lose at least two weeks rent. Smart setting of lease end dates upfront reduces vacancy risk and protects thousands in rent.
Good sign: You get a yearly review on time with a clear strategy. They show the proposed new rent alongside the current open market value, explain the reasoning, and prepare you for how the tenant may respond. This gives you confidence to increase rent fairly and consistently.
Red flag: Reviews are irregular or late. You only get a number with no market context or plan.
Why it matters: Rent increases should feel like a normal process, not a shock. If increases are inconsistent, you leave money on the table and create unnecessary risk for future rises.
I’ve been in real estate since 2006. I’ve seen it all.
Finding great tenants is the secret to managing rental properties. If you have great tenants, it’s harder to spot the clues of poor management — but that’s when you need to stay most alert. You would hate to lose quality tenants because the management is slack.
Renters feel the effects of poor management before you do. And managers will often hide issues from you for as long as possible.
The most common thing I’ve noticed — and still hear about today — is good renters leaving because their maintenance requests get ignored while the owner has no idea.
They get fed up and move out. The owner then pays two weeks in new tenant leasing fees and loses another week in vacancy. That’s three weeks rent gone, all because the property manager didn’t pass on a couple of maintenance requests.
The tenants weren’t the problem. The management was.
If you see one red flag, take note and watch closely.
Two, you should be concerned.
More than that, it’s not bad luck — it’s a pattern. Time to make a change.
The higher up the list, the bigger the deal.
Most owners wait until renters move out before they act. By then it’s too late. They’re busy with work and life, so they put it off until they feel the full effect. Some worry they’ll upset the tenants by switching. But I can assure you — if you’re unhappy, your tenants are not impressed either. In fact, they’ll usually be relieved. For them, it’s just changing where they pay rent. I’ve never seen an unhappy tenant when a poor management company gets replaced.
Even good people cannot deliver consistent results inside a broken model.
The problem isn’t the people.
It’s the system.
That’s why we’re building a Digital Property Manager — a new system not to replace people, but to replace uncertainty, inconsistency, and the lack of transparency. Join the waitlist now.
You don't usually realise you have a bad property manager until it is too late. Everything looks fine because the rent keeps landing in your bank account. A couple of years later the tenant moves out. Bond refunded. You walk through and the place is neglected. Damage everywhere. Deep clean needed. You spend ten thousand on maintenance and cleaning to get the property back to its original condition. On top of that you lose weeks rent in vacancy. The key is to look for the 9 indicators that reveal the truth before it's too late.
Michael Gilbert
For homeowners
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