property managementTips

The Difference Between a Property Manager and a Landlord

By January 21, 2020 No Comments
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A rental can be either managed by a landlord or a third-party property management company. A property manager or rather, a property management company, may be hired by a landlord to help manage their property. It depends on the level of attention and affordability a landlord wants to invest in their property. Knowing the differences between a landlord’s responsibility and property management can help you decide which party you would rather rent from.

What Is a Landlord?

To put it simply, a landlord is a person who owns a piece of land or rental property that can be leased to another person (tenant). In exchange for occupying the land, the tenant usually pays a monthly rent. When renting from a landlord you are renting from the owner directly. They create their own leases, security deposits, rent amounts, and maintenance requests.

Landlord’s Responsibility

It is the landlord’s responsibility that they follow the rules of their state. In this case, Idaho. Here is a brief overview of some landlord-tenant laws in Idaho.

  • Security deposits are not subject to a certain amount, but must be returned within 21 days after the tenant leaves.
  • Landlords must give notice within 15 days when raising the rent.
  • Give a 3-day notice for tenants to pay rent or move before filing for an eviction

For a more in-depth look, here is a pdf of the landlord and tenant manual.

What’s the Role of a Property Management Company?

When renting from a property management company, there is usually a landlord in the background. Property managers are hired by a landlord to supervise and help maintain the property. This is particularly popular with large multi-family homes or several rental spaces like a complex. As you may have already realized, there are several property management companies in Boise like DJW that work for several landlords.
Property management companies help with the upkeep and tenant care, that a busy landlord may neglect. They also provide a level of professionalism that may be missing in the rental process with a landlord. Deemed the middleman for tenants, property management companies relay tenant requests to landlords if the request is out of their authoritative scope.
Their expertise particularly comes in if the landlord lives far away from the property and needs a helping hand to maintain the premises, interview tenants, perform inspections, and upkeep the property.

Property Management’s Responsibilities

Property management companies still have to follow the same landlord-tenant laws that landlords follow. In Idaho there is no statute on a grace period for unpaid rent, so this must be established in the lease.

In Need of a Property Management Company?

If you are a current landlord or becoming one soon and need a reliable property management company in Idaho, then you should consider doing business with DJW Property Management. Not only are there a ton of resources available online for tenants, but they also have an online portal for tenants to pay their rent. That way the paying process is made simpler and funds can be dispersed promptly. For more information, you should check out their management services and fees to get a better idea of what business with them is like.