For some years now, many property owners choose to trust third-party professional companies to maintain and manage their properties, as, for one reason or another, they don’t have the time or the experience to do it by themselves, especially holiday rentals apartments that require a lot of attention in terms of maintenance, reservations, check-ins, check-outs, cleaning, laundry etc.
The holiday apartment industry, which is increasing exponentially year on year, has its particularities and idiosyncrasies. In this blog, I will attempt to clearly define the concept of property management and other useful information related to this term.
If you are thinking about renting your home in the near future, you may want to join this exciting sector or you are planning to invest in a property soon, this article is definitely for you. Let’s get started!
What is property management?
Property management is the control and administration of apartments, residences, or other real estate properties. It involves administering property owned by another party. This service includes a wide variety of services, such as daily operations such as handling maintenance or tenant complaints, marketing campaigns and advertisements, rent etc.
Property management agencies: what are they and what they do?
There are different types of property managers: individual people specialized in managing particular types of properties or residences; and holiday property managers companies. These last ones are companies whose main mission is to assure the correct maintenance, productivity, and management of properties that belong to a third-party entity. Property management companies are basically the middle man between guests and property owners, releasing the landlord of any daily responsibility with the rent, management, or communication with the tenant.
Even though property management agencies can vary significantly depending on the range of services they offer and the types of properties they manage, their main goal is to maintain and rent the apartments, managing every detail related to them.
Holiday rental management companies assure the profitability and the safe rental of every apartment under their brand, according to the guidance that the agency and the owners agree on in advance.
Property managers: responsabilities and definition
Property managers are people who work both individually and in a property management company. Their responsibilities are quite extensive, but their main goal is to make sure that the rental holiday home achieves a minimum percentage of occupation every year, and to take the most of the properties. That’s why the property manager is responsible for tenant occupancy, payments are received on time, budgets are followed, assure communication, advertisement, and making sure property conditions are properly maintained.
To summarize, we could say that property manager's responsabilities are:
- Understanding landlord-tenant laws and regulations
- Properties maintenance and reparations
- Advertising properties to maximize occupancy (through their own website, social media, Online Travel Agents…)
- Managing the budget
- Handling taxes
- Taking care of tenants (or guests) from beginning to end (check-in, check-out, requests, complaints…)
- Setting and collecting rent
| ???? KEY TAKEAWAYS ABOUT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT: 1. Owners pay property managers a fee or a percentage of the rent generated by the property. 2. Owner-property manager relationship should be based on trust as property management is the oversight of real estate by a third party. 3. Property management companies should have a deep understanding of holiday rental laws and licenses of their country/region. 4. Communication and transparency with numbers, budgets, and other concerns related to the property. 5. Customer service is an essential factor in this sector to guarantee guest satisfaction and return. |
Property management software: our best ally
Since this real estate field has been increasing over the years, so have CRM and software necessities. Like every company in the world, most of the management, communication, payments transactions, and other internal processes are made online.
Having a property management software that facilitates and optimizes holiday rental agencies' workflow and efforts is absolutely essential nowadays to guarantee company success and time optimization. With this type of tool, company staff are able to suffer less friction, waiting time, and interruptions in tasks and automate certain transactions in order to create a more effective way of working.
A good property management software should be easy to understand and manage, have online rent payment, highlight the most important apartment characteristics, have automated emails, provide an owner area, and release clear and efficient communication with future tenants and owners.
Property management in Malaga and Costa del Sol: their particularities
Property management licensing requirements vary by country. In Spain, it varies in every autonomous community.
In the case of property management in Andalusia, holiday rental companies need to get a license in order to carry on their business activities. Also, regarding holiday rental properties, it’s indispensable to have certain licenses in order to be able to rent a property as a holiday home.
Holiday home definition
We understand holiday homes as these properties that people rent in order to holiday for a certain period of time in a different location to the home they usually live in.
This definition is quite important to understand what properties manager duties and tasks are when managing these types of real estate.
That’s why it’s essential that a property management company or individual property manager have a deep understanding of both regional and national landlord-tenants and holiday homes laws and regulations.
Do you want to hire a property management company in Malaga?
In Solaga, we are experts in property management, as we have worked in this sector for 15 years now. We are property managers in Malaga, Costa del Sol, and we deal every day with the problems, requirements, and questions that both our guests and owners ask us related to holiday rentals.
Our apartments are located in Malaga city center and Nerja and we provide our guests and owners great customer service, the best locations, and close relationships based on trust and communication.
If you want more information, don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll reach out to you in the next few days!
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