Legal knowledge a pillar of good property management

There are three core aspects of good property management. One is excellent communication with tenants and another is scrupulous bookkeeping. Finally, it’s crucial for property managers to be grounded in the law, but this is where many property managers fall short.

You might have a property manager who is an excellent communicator and has meticulous bookkeeping but lacks knowledge of the law. This is not to say they are not wonderful people, but they just can’t keep track of a deluge of changes to laws, ordinances, and rules - it’s like taking a drink out of a fire hose. Even we have neared exhaustion trying to keep up. 

The COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020, for example, is 20,000 words, and property managers are hard-pressed to make sense of it all. 2020 has been the most cumbersome time ever in landlord-tenant law, so it is important for those overseeing your property to be tethered to an attorney who is aware of the ever-changing legal landscape. 

Even in ordinary times - and these times are anything but - we have seen mistakes made like improper notices served, discriminatory housing ads, and a host of other blunders that are oftentimes a result of high turnover in the property management industry. It may be frustrating to train an employee on the laws and rules that govern the landlord-tenant relationship, only to have that person leave and be forced to train another employee who takes their place. 

In 2010, we hosted a webinar on the top 10 pitfalls in property management. However dated, the core competencies of a good property manager haven’t fundamentally changed in the past decade, but the consequences of pitfalls have become even greater.

Property Management Law: Top 10 Pitfalls, with Daniel Bornstein from AppFolio Inc on Vimeo.

Training employees and retaining your best and brightest talent seem to go hand-in-hand with legal knowledge. The more training and the longer an employee stays with the property management company, the more likely he or she is to be versed in the law and avoid pitfalls.

Of course, when property managers get lost in the weeds or have a matter enlarged, Bornstein Law is, of course, able to assist.