Resident Manager Agreement — RPI Form 591

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This form is used by an owner or property manager when employing a resident manager to oversee the daily management of the owner’s rental property, to document the resident manager’s non-discretionary administrative duties, hours of work and the manager’s occupancy of an apartment unit as part of their compensation.

Your use of RPI Form 591

Employees: distinct from tenants

A broker, retained to manage a residential income property as property manager, enters into an employment agreement with a resident manager. The resident manager will live on-site and oversee the daily management of the property. The employment agreement is called a resident manager agreement. [See RPI Form 591]

Under the resident manager agreement, the resident manager:

acknowledges employment by the property manager;
accepts the occupancy and use of an apartment unit rent-free or discounted, as part of or in full compensation for the employment; and
agrees to vacate the property on termination of employment. [See RPI e-book Real Estate Property Management, Chapter 10]

Resident manager activities

A resident manager is an individual employed by the property manager or landlord to live on-site at the managed complex and see to its daily operations. A resident manager’s duties may include:

screening tenants and negotiating leases;
cleaning vacated units;
supervising landscaping, maintenance and repairs;
serving notices; or
attending to tenant inquiries.

Both residential income property and commercial property may have resident managers. However, apartment buildings with 16 or more units are required to have a landlord, resident manager or responsible caretaker living on the premises to manage the property. [25 Calif. Code of Regulations §42]

Resident managers do not need to be licensed as a real estate broker or agent to negotiate leases or collect rents. However, when a nonresident property manager is not the landlord, the nonresident property manager needs to be licensed by the Department of Real Estate (DRE) as a real estate broker. [Calif. Business and Professions Code §10131.01]

Hiring a resident manager

A property manager who employs a resident manager is responsible for the following brokerage activities:

selecting and hiring the resident manager;
maintaining worker’s compensation, liability insurance and any bonding requirements of the landlord or property manager;
keeping payroll records, including information about withholding and employer contributions;
supervising the resident manager; and
terminating the resident manager’s employment.

The resident manager’s status as an employee is established in an employment agreement called the resident manager agreement. [See RPI Form 591]

Family members who live with the resident manager need to be listed in the resident manager agreement. Further, a statement noting these family members are not tenants, but family members of the employee, is to be included. Thus, the family members’ right to occupy the property terminates with the resident manager’s right to occupy the property (e.g., the termination of the resident manager’s employment).

References to the participants in the resident manager agreement need to identify the property manager/landlord as “employer” and the resident manager as “employee” [See RPI Form 591 §4.9]

Termination of the resident manager

A resident manager agreement creates an at-will employment between the resident manager and the employing property manager or landlord. Thus, the resident manager’s employment may be terminated at any time and without prior notice.

While a landlord or property manager does not need to have a good reason to terminate a resident manager, they may not have an improper reason for terminating the resident manager. A property manager or landlord may not terminate the resident manager or otherwise harass them based on:

disability;
race;
creed;
color;
gender;
age; or
other protected status.

An improper termination exposes the employing property manager or landlord to liability. [Stephens v. Coldwell Banker Commercial Group, Inc. (1988) 199 CA3d 1394]

The resident manager agreement

An owner or property manager uses the Resident Manager Agreement published by Realty Publications, Inc. (RPI) when employing a resident manager to oversee the daily management of the owner’s rental property. The form allows the owner or property manager to document the resident manager’s non-discretionary administrative duties, hours of work and the manager’s occupancy of an apartment unit as part of their compensation. [See RPI Form 591]

The Resident Manager Agreement establishes: