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A property management company is tasked with the responsibility of managing the multiple aspects which come along with the ownership of real estate. This is much akin to the role of management in any business.

One important role is that of acting as liaison between the landlord and tenant. Duties of property management companies include accepting rent, responding to and addressing maintenance issues, advertising vacancies for landlords, and doing credit and background checks on tenants. In exchange for the service they provide, property management companies charge landlords a percentage of the gross rent collected each month (typically 3-10%), in addition to lease commissions. If disclosed in the management agreement repair costs may be marked by some property managers. Some property management companies also manage home owner associations (HOAs).

In addition to managing income and expense related activity, property managers may also manage construction, development, repair and maintenance on a property. The direction / choreography of repair/maintenance is quite a large part of a property manager's function. Property manager relations with Tenants gives a face to the Landlord and provides them the necessary buffer servicing their desire to profit and distance themselves from their tenant constituency.

There are many facets to this profession, including participating in and/or initiating litigation with tenants, contractors and insurance agencies. Litigation alone is at times considered an entirely separate function, set aside for trained attorneys. Although a person or persons will be responsible for this in their job description, there may or may not be an attorney working under a property manager. Special attention is given to Landlord/Tenant law and most commonly evictions, non-payment, harassment, reduction of pre-arranged services, and public nuisance are legal subjects that gain the most amount of attention from property managers. Therefore, it is a necessity that a property manager be current with new laws and practices in their given localities, cities and states.

Property management, like facility management, is increasingly facilitated by computer-aided facility management software.

In addition, the term property management could be used to describe the practice of managing capitalized assets that are not real estate in nature, such as equipment and consumables. This is particularly the case in some post-secondary institutions.

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