Download the Form

This form is used by a licensed broker or their agent when entering into an employment to act as a property manager for an owner’s rental property, to document the employment and set forth the rights, responsibilities and expectations of the property manager and the landlord, including authorized activities, performance standards and expense limitations.

150-1

Your use of RPI Form 590

Authority to operate a rental property 

Property management is an economically viable and personally rewarding real estate service permitted for real estate licensees. Serious brokers and agents often turn their attention from services rendered in residential sales to the specialized and recession-proof discipline of property management.

The duty of care a property manager owes a landlord is the same duty of care and protection a broker in real estate sales owes their sellers and buyers. As a property manager, the broker is an agent acting in the capacity of a trustee on behalf of the landlord.

A property manager’s authority to take possession and control of income-producing real estate and manage its leases, rents, expenses, mortgage payments and accounting in expectation of a fee is established in a property management agreement. [See RPI e-book Real Estate Property Management, Chapter 8]

The property management agreement sets out the specific rights, responsibilities and expectations of the property manager and the landlord who employs them, including authorized activities, minimum performance standards and expense limitations. [See RPI Form 590]

Landlord responsibilities include providing the property manager with the information and items necessary to properly manage the property and its tenants, such as:

  • copies of existing lease and rental agreements;
  • service and maintenance contracts;
  • utilities information;
  • keys and security devices;
  • security deposits; and
  • information on hazard and worker’s compensation insurance for the property and employees.

The property management agreement authorizes the property manager to:

  • locate tenants;
  • enter into rental and lease agreements, including leases for a term of over one year;
  • deliver possession of units or space;
  • collect rents;
  • incur operating expenses; and
  • disburse funds to pay expenses, mortgage payments and management fees. [Calif. Civil Code 1624(a)(3)]

Related, a resident manager is employed by either the landlord or the property manager who manages the apartment building or complex. The resident manager lives on the premises as a requirement of their employment. The on-site resident manager handles the daily operations of an apartment building comprising 16 or more residential units. [See RPI Form 591]

The property management agreement

A licensed broker or their agent uses the Property Management Agreement published by Realty Publications, Inc. (RPI) when entering into an employment to act as a property manager for an owner’s rental property. The form allows the broker to document the employment and set forth the rights, responsibilities and expectations of the property manager and the landlord, including authorized activities, performance standards and expense limitations. [See RPI Form 590]

The Property Management Agreement contains:

Revision history

Form updated 2016.

Form navigation page published 11-2015. Updated 05-2023.