How do I check owner complaints and tenant turnover at a property manager?

Begin with the owners, since they are the paying clients. Ask for the list of buildings or owners who left, the date of each notice and the reason given. A manager who loses owners to a sale of the property is in a different position from one who loses them to dissatisfaction, and the file should show which.

Turnover on the tenant side tells a second story. Request move-out reasons, repair request histories and the time taken to close each one. If the same building keeps showing the same complaint, ask what was done and by whom.

Read the written complaints rather than a summary. Look at tone, tracking and whether the answers were consistent. Then speak, with permission, to a few owners the manager still serves and ask what they would change. Finally, ask who handles complaints today. If one person holds every relationship, the owners may follow that person rather than the firm, and you will want a plan for the transition. Also ask for any notes from owner meetings, since a complaint raised in person often never reaches the formal log and still shapes whether the owner stays. Ask too how quickly the firm answers an owner who calls with a worry, because speed is often what owners remember.

Key takeaways

• Separate owners lost for outside reasons from owners lost to dissatisfaction.
• Read repeat tenant complaints by building and see whether the same issue keeps returning.
• Find out which staff member holds each owner relationship before you commit.