Change of Owner or Property Manager — Addendum to Rental or Lease Agreement — RPI Form 554

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This form is used by a property manager or landlord when a change of ownership or property manager has occurred on a residential rental property, to notify each tenant of the change and confirm the status of their rent and other monetary obligations.

Your use of RPI Form 554

Change in ownership and management

The owner, property manager or resident manager responsible for entering into rental and lease agreements notifies all tenants of the name and address for service on the owner of notices or a complaint initiated by the tenant. [See RPI e-book Real Estate Property Management, Chapter 11]

This information is handed to the tenants within 15 calendar days after any change in:

the manager of the property;
the owner of the property, unless the new owner appoints an agent-for-service; or
the owner’s agent-for-service. [See RPI Form 554]

To disclose a change in ownership or management, the property manager or resident manager responsible for leasing is to:

prepare the notice of change of ownership or property management as an addendum to each existing rental or lease agreement and hand it to each tenant to sign and return [See RPI Form 554]; or
post on the property the names and addresses of the property manager, resident manager and owner’s agent-for-service.

The notice also includes information regarding how and when rent will be paid. A successor owner or property manager may not serve a tenant with a notice to pay rent or quit or file an unlawful detainer (UD) action based on rent unpaid and due during the period in which the successor owner or property manager failed to provide rent payment information. [CC §1962(c)]

However, the owner or property manager’s failure to timely provide rent payment information does not excuse a tenant of their obligation to pay rent.

A residential property manager (or resident manager) in charge of leasing who fails to provide the name and address of the owner or their agent-for-service:

automatically becomes the owner’s agent-for-service of process and agent for receipt of all tenant notices and demands [CC §1962(d)(1)]; and
is treated as the owner, not the owner’s agent, and liable for performing all obligations described under rental and lease agreements with tenants. [CC §1962(d)(2)]

When the person signing the lease or rental agreement for the owner fails to make the disclosures, the tenant may have no indication the person signing is not the owner. However, this does not relieve the owner of liability to tenants. It merely extends liability to the property manager or resident manager who failed to give the required agency notice identifying themselves as agent for the owner. [CC §1962(e)]

The change of owner or property manager

A property manager or landlord uses the Change of Owner or Property Manager form published by RPI when a change of ownership or property manager has occurred on a residential rental property. The form allows the property manager or landlord to notify each tenant of the change and confirm the status of their rent and other monetary obligations. [See RPI Form 554]

The Change of Owner or Property Manager contains:

facts of the rental or lease agreement [See RPI Form 554 §1];
the address and phone number of the new property manager broker or resident manager [See RPI Form 554 §2];
rent payment information [See RPI Form 554 §3];
the status of the tenant’s security deposit [See RPI Form 554 §4];
lease or rental agreement breaches [See RPI Form 554 §5];
the owner’s name, address and phone number [See RPI Form 554 §6];
a statement that all terms and conditions of the rental or lease agreement remains in effect [See RPI Form 554 §7]; and
signatures of the landlord and tenant. [See RPI Form 554]