Property Management

A big decision for landlords is whether to manage their rentals themselves, or pay a property manager to do it for them.

Managing your rental yourself can be more cost effective, but sometimes it can be demanding as attending to requests, queries, and maintenance can be frustrating and time consuming.

What services do Property Managers provide?

To keep your landlord insurance valid, your property manager should meet your landlord obligations so you don’t need to worry about them yourself.

Some of the other main services of a Property Manager include:

• Finding new tenants when the house is empty
• Assess prospective tenants’ suitability and review reference checks
• Collect rental payments from tenants
• Carry out regular property inspections to ensure you comply with your insurance policy.
• Deal with and look after tenants – answer queries, book tradespeople for repairs, and generally act as a go-to for tenants.
• Deal with the legislative ins and outs.
• Regular rent reviews
• Assess and recommend improvements to your property so that you can attract higher rents and better tenants

Can I give my property manager access to my initio account?

Yes – you’ll keep full control of your initio account as the property owner, but you can add your property manager as an authorised contact to help with day‑to‑day matters. The main login must remain in your name for security and legal reasons, as it allows managing policy details and payments. If you need to make a claim, you’ll need to submit the initial online claim yourself, then you can nominate your property manager within the claim form to assist with claim handling.  

Your initio account is for you, the insured property owner. The main login always stays in your name so you can manage your policy, payments, and cover.

While your property manager can’t have their own login, you can add them as an authorised contact for claims. If you need to make a claim, you’ll start the process by submitting it online yourself. After that, you can nominate your property manager in the claim form so they can help manage the claim on your behalf.

This way, you keep control of your account, but your property manager can still support you when it comes to claims.

Can a property manager lodge a claim on my behalf?

Any claim must be initially lodged by yourself as the Insured, part of the claims form includes legal declarations and statements that only you can complete.  You can, however, nominate a property manager or another agent as part of the lodgement who you authorise to act on your behalf once the claim has been submitted.

 

Pros and Cons of using a Property Manager

While self management might save you a property management fee, having the right property manager could mean higher rents and less days unoccupied meaning more rental income.