Switching property managers

Step 1: your exit is in the agreement, not the Act

How much notice you owe your current manager, and whether a cancellation fee applies, is set by your management agreement, not by the Residential Tenancies Act, which governs you and your tenant rather than you and your manager. Thirty to ninety days' written notice is common. Read the termination clause before doing anything else, and time the switch to a month boundary so rent collection changes hands cleanly.

Step 2: what must survive the handover

• The security deposit, with its interest history. The deposit is your tenant's money held in trust. It moves between brokerage trust accounts, and the obligation to credit interest at each year's statutory rate carries on unbroken. The new manager needs to know what was taken, when, and what interest has accrued.
• The original move-in inspection report. This is the one people lose, and it is the expensive one: without a compliant move-in report you lose the right to deduct from the deposit for damage, no matter what the unit looks like at the end. Get the signed original or a complete copy before the old manager closes the file.
• The tenancy agreement and any amendments: plus the rent ledger, arrears history, and any notices already served (a rent increase notice already given keeps its dates).
• Keys, fobs, garage remotes, mailbox keys: counted, and matched against how many the tenant holds.
• Condo documents, insurance details, and any warranty or vendor history the property carries.

Step 3: your tenant barely notices, and that is the goal

The tenancy binds you as the owner, so changing managers changes nothing about its terms: same rent, same deposit, same rights on entry, increases and notice. The tenant receives written notice of who now manages the property and where rent is paid, and life continues. A handover the tenant experiences as one clear letter, rather than a missed rent call and a stranger at the door, is what keeps a good tenant through the change.