Property manager vs rental management: what is the difference?

To clarify the difference between property management and rental management, we talked to Alma Voets, property management project leader, and Christophe Lonneville, Director of the rental management department, both at OP.

• What is a property manager?

The property manager is responsible for the common areas of a building owned by co-owners. They manage all the administrative, technical and accounting aspects relating to the common areas of the building.

• Is it compulsory to have a property manager for a building?

Alma Voets explains that it is compulsory to have a property manager but it does not necessarily have to be a professional; one of the co-owners can act as the property manager. When the property manager is one of the owners of a building, that is the only exception to the rule that they have to be a professional.

• What is the best way to choose a professional property manager?

Alma Voets says that the most important thing is for the property manager to be responsive and transparent, communicate clearly about what they do and keep clear accounts. They have to be trusted completely and the property manager must fully understand their role.

• What is rental management?

This used to be called private management, and it concerns everything within the individual property. The owner may, however, retain a certain role but may prefer to outsource the technical management, financial management or all aspects.

• Is rental management compulsory?

It is not compulsory to use a rental manager. As Christophe Lonneville explains, however, the aim is to relieve the owner of many of their tasks and provide a person to look after the owner’s asset. The rental manager carries out inventories, searches for tenants, registers the lease, collects the rent and carries out indexation where necessary. They also make sure the tenant pays their rent on time.

There is also a technical aspect: for example if maintenance work needs to be carried out in the property, the rental manager can take care of this and collect a number of quotations which can then be presented to the owner for a decision. The owner may also give the rental manager a budget and allow them to make the selection and monitor the repairs.

• How much does a rental manager cost?

That depends on the type of property. The less maintenance is carried out on a property, the higher the cost of rental management will be. For an apartment building with a single owner, there is no property manager.

In that situation the rental manager also acts as the property manager for the common areas. They therefore have to carry out maintenance of the common areas (changing light bulbs, maintaining the stairwells etc.).

The cost of rental management can vary from 8% to 14% of the rent, excluding charges, depending on the property that is being managed.

• What is the best way to choose a rental manager?

Christophe Lonneville says it is best to choose a person or company with experience of the market and an excellent understanding of the sector. For example, OP has more than 150 years of experience and works with lawyers who draw up tenancy agreements to ensure that they are always in accordance with the law.

The rental manager must monitor rent payments correctly, using powerful, specialised software to ensure an unimpeachable standard of financial management. Comprehensive technical servicing also needs to be carried out.

• What are the difficulties involved in these two jobs?

Property managers and rental managers both act as a link between different parties. Here is a practical example: if it is found that the common areas have not been maintained properly, it is the property manager who contacts the cleaning company to pass on the complaint from the owners. If satisfactory maintenance is still not carried out despite this, the owners will contact the property manager, who must then demand that the cleaning company make changes to satisfy the owners.

Similarly, if a tenant complains of a nuisance in their own apartment, for example caused by the tenant living upstairs, it is up to the rental manager to sort out the problem. In some cases that can lead to a manager facing quite complex situations, because they are the first point of contact for the individuals involved.

Alma Voets adds that another difficulty is that there is a tendency to mix up the two roles. In some cases, for example, a tenant may contact the property manager about a repair that is required within their own apartment. It must then be explained to them again that the property manager manages the common areas, but because this is about their own apartment, it is a private matter and will be dealt with by the rental manager.

The rental manager also has to initiate eviction proceedings against tenants, for example if the rent has not been paid. This can sometimes lead to difficult situations, such as a tenant disappearing without explanation or even the discovery that a tenant has died inside the property.

• Do the property manager and the rental manager work together?

They may communicate, for example if the rental manager is managing properties in the same building as the property manager. If the property manager becomes aware of problems in the common areas where the party responsible is the tenant of a property managed by the rental manager, the rental manager can inform the tenant about the nuisance resulting from their actions and ask them to do something about it.

The two professionals also work together if there is damage to the property. For example, if there is a major water leak, the rental manager and property manager are both involved in dealing with the damage to the individual apartment and to the building as a whole.

Although the property manager and the rental manager both work for the owners of real estate properties, their day-to-day work is very different. That is because the property manager is responsible for the common areas of a building, while the rental manager is in direct contact with the owners and tenants of an individual property.

OP has been a specialist in real estate for more than 145 years and can take care of everything involved in rental management and property management.

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information about our services.

If you have any questions about this article, please contact us by e-mail at the following address: bde@op.be