Recently I was engaged online with a party discussing the requirements of being licensed in BC. The discussion started with a post online about someone’s strata corporation having a bylaw that stated "Unless with written approval from the Strata Council, rental unit must be managed by Licensed Professional Rental Property Manager."

The person was asking “does this mean I must hire a property manager”

With regards to these bylaws we were recently advised through training offered by the governing authorities in BC that it would not be enforceable, as an individual is entitled by law to manage their own rental property.  

I proceeded to explain that once you compensate another party to manage your rental, that party must be licensed to manage the rental property. A response suggested that “someone can manage properties for a single owner and not be licensed. Other exemptions are developers” 

There are exemptions for parties to manage rental properties in BC. For developers they are exempt becaue the developer’s employee is the party managing the property. This can be for any rental, if an entity owns the property, any of its employees may manage that property without being licensed. There are other exemptions as well including, but not limited to persons acting under authority of the court, a trustee in bankruptcy, an executor of an estate are few other exemptions.   

If the owner of a rental property hires another person or company to manage their property and they compensate them, and the individual or company is not part of the exemptions then the party must be licensed in order to provide rental management services. Why is it important for parties to be licensed to manage rental properties for other people and or companies. Licensing provides a source of education of the rental laws and should improve the experience for owners and tenants when renting a rental property. Licensed property managers are expected to maintain a higher standard of professionalism when providing rental management services to their clients and tenants. Licensing provides tenants and owners a recourse of filing complaints and or recoveirng costs through systems like the Real Estate Compensation Fund to provide protection for clients in the event they have lost money due to the actions of licensed professionals. 

Many concerns with landlords having negative experiences with tenants often occurs from a landlord who is lacking education of the rental laws in BC. In any endevour if you are unaware of your requirements it will lead to an unexpected outcome. Being a landlord in BC is a complicated and time consuming process. Operating a rental property is comparable to operating a business, and should be viewed in that manner. Many landlords fail to take the business approach to managing a rental property. Meaning you should follow the laws required for managing your rental property. Failing to follow the laws provides opportunities for unethical tenants to take advantage of uneducated landlords. 

If you need assistance managing your rental property in the lowermainland of BC Cartref Properties can help you have a positive experience.  

Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com