Squamish Property Management Contracts: What to Look For

A Squamish property management contract governs everything that follows: what you pay, what gets done, how much of your money the manager can spend without asking, and whether you can leave if it isn't working. Most owners sign it quickly, trusting it's standard. Usually it is. But the few clauses that aren't are the ones that cost you, and they're easy to spot once you know where to look. Here's what to read closely before you sign, and what's worth negotiating.

The fee schedule: every charge, named

The contract should spell out, in one place, every fee:

• The monthly management fee: the percentage (or flat amount), and whether it's charged on rent collected or rent due.
• The tenant-placement fee: how much, charged when.
• A lease-renewal fee, if any, and how much. (A modest one or none is reasonable; a placement-sized fee at every renewal is not.)
• A setup or onboarding fee, if there is one.
• Project or renovation-oversight fees, usually a percentage of larger jobs. The threshold at which "maintenance" becomes a "project" should be defined.
• Maintenance markup: whether trade invoices are marked up, and by how much.

If a fee isn't in the contract, you shouldn't be paying it. If the contract is vague ("fees as per our standard schedule"), get the schedule attached and referenced. Our Squamish property management fees guide covers what's normal so you can sanity-check what's written.

Term and termination: can you leave?

This is one of the two clauses owners most often skim and later regret. Read it slowly:

• Term. Is it month-to-month, or a fixed initial term (one year is common)?
• Notice to terminate. How much, in what form (written, almost always), sent where.
• Early-termination fee. Is there a charge for leaving before a fixed term ends? How much?
• Auto-renewal. Does it renew automatically unless you cancel in a specific window? This is the quiet trap: a missed calendar reminder locks you in for another year.
• Handover obligations. What the manager must give you on termination: the tenancy agreement and addenda, the deposits plus interest, keys and codes, the rent ledger, copies of notices served, the vendor list, the status of open work orders.

What good looks like: a reasonable notice period (often 30 to 90 days), no punitive exit fee, no auto-renewal you have to actively escape, and a clear, complete handover obligation. What to push back on: long lock-ins with steep exit fees, auto-renewal, and vague language about who gets the file. Our guide to switching property managers in Squamish walks through what a clean exit should look like. Read it before you sign, not after.

Scope of services: what's in, what's out

The contract should describe what the manager actually does (leasing, rent collection, maintenance coordination, inspections, reporting, compliance) and, just as importantly, what's excluded or billed separately. Common exclusions: major renovations (project fee), eviction proceedings beyond a certain point, legal representation, and anything unusual to the property.

The test: "everything is included" is not a real answer. It just means you'll discover the exclusions when you're billed for one. A contract that names the scope and lists the carve-outs is being honest with you. When you're vetting managers in the first place, "what's not included?" is one of the 12 questions to ask.

Spending authority: how much can they commit?

The other clause owners regret skimming. It sets the dollar threshold below which the manager can authorise a repair without calling you, and above which they must contact you first, usually with an exception for genuine emergencies where waiting could make things worse.

Why it matters: set too high, you lose oversight of your own money. Set too low, the manager is pinging you about every minor fix and the whole point of hiring out is gone. A sensible threshold (high enough to keep routine repairs moving, low enough that anything significant gets a call) with a clear emergency carve-out is exactly right. If the contract is silent on this, that's a gap, not a convenience. Pin it down.

Indemnity and insurance: who carries the risk?

This is where a standard-looking contract can quietly tilt against you. Look for:

• What you're indemnifying the manager for. A clause where you agree to cover the manager for essentially everything, including their own negligence, is worth pushing back on. The manager should carry their own errors-and-omissions coverage and stand behind their own work. Indemnifying them for their mistakes is backwards.
• The manager's own insurance. A professional manager should hold appropriate liability and errors-and-omissions coverage; the contract (or the brokerage) should confirm it.
• Your insurance obligations. The contract will likely require you to carry landlord/property insurance and possibly name the manager as an additional insured. Reasonable, just know it's there.

You don't need to be a lawyer to read this clause; you need to notice if it asks you to backstop the manager's own errors, and to ask for that narrowed if it does.

Trust accounting: where your money sits

Insist on a clause confirming that rent and the security and pet-damage deposits are held in a designated trust account, separate from the firm's operating funds, with interest on deposits handled per the Residential Tenancy Act. In BC this is tied to how brokerages are regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority. If the contract is silent on it, or worse, describes money flowing through a general operating account, that's a serious problem. This one isn't negotiable. It's a baseline.

Reporting obligations

The contract should commit the manager to a reporting cadence and format, typically a monthly owner statement showing rent collected, arrears, fees deducted, expenses with invoices, and net disbursed, plus a year-end summary. If it just says "the manager will provide statements from time to time," that's a clause to tighten: specify monthly, specify what's in it, and ask whether you get online access.

What to negotiate

Owners assume management agreements are take-it-or-leave-it. Often the core percentage is, but plenty of the rest is flexible. Common, reasonable asks:

Clause	What to ask for
Renewal fee	Waived or reduced. Re-signing a good tenant isn't a placement
Setup / onboarding fee	Reduced or removed, especially if you're bringing a tenanted unit
Fixed term	Shortened, or month-to-month with reasonable notice
Auto-renewal	Removed entirely
Maintenance threshold	Set at a level you're comfortable with
Project-oversight fee	Capped, and the "project" threshold clearly defined
Indemnity	Narrowed so it doesn't cover the manager's own negligence
Maintenance markup	Disclosed and capped, or pass-through at cost

A manager confident in their value will discuss these without taking offence. One who treats every line as non-negotiable, including the obviously flexible ones, is telling you about the relationship ahead.

We signed the first contract without reading the term clause carefully. Turned out it auto-renewed and had a two-month exit fee. Lesson learned. The next one, we read every line and crossed out the auto-renewal before signing. The manager didn't blink.

Before you sign

A short checklist:

• The full fee schedule is in the document (or attached and referenced), with nothing implied.
• The termination clause gives you a reasonable, written notice period, no punitive exit fee, no auto-renewal trap, and a complete handover obligation.
• The scope names what's done and lists what's excluded.
• The spending-authority threshold is stated and sensible, with an emergency carve-out.
• The indemnity clause doesn't ask you to backstop the manager's own negligence.
• A trust-accounting clause confirms rent and deposits are held in trust.
• Reporting is committed to, monthly, itemised, ideally with online access.
• You understand every clause, and you can get out cleanly if it isn't working.

If any of that is missing or off, raise it before you sign. For a larger portfolio or anything unusual, a quick legal review is cheap insurance. And never (this one's simple) sign a contract you can't get out of cleanly.

For the bigger picture on hiring locally, see the Squamish property management owner's guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is a property management contract legally binding in BC?

Yes. It's a binding services agreement between you and the brokerage, governed by general contract law and, because residential property management is a licensed activity in BC, by the province's real estate rules and the standards of the BC Financial Services Authority. That's exactly why the clauses matter: the fee schedule, the term, the spending authority, and the handover obligations are enforceable terms, not just intentions. Read them as if they'll be held to, because they will.

How long should a property management agreement run?

Month-to-month, or a short initial term (often a year) that then continues month-to-month, is owner-friendly. You can leave with reasonable notice if it isn't working. Be cautious of long fixed terms with steep early-termination fees, and especially of auto-renewal clauses that lock you in for another full year unless you cancel in a narrow window. If a manager insists on a long lock-in, ask why their service can't keep you without one.

Can the property manager change the fees during the contract?

Only as the contract allows, which is why the fee schedule needs to be in the document. A percentage management fee naturally scales with rent without a change to the contract. A manager wanting to raise the percentage, add a new charge, or change the placement fee should need your agreement, typically with notice. If the contract lets them revise fees unilaterally, that's a clause to push back on hard.

What happens to my deposit and tenant if I cancel the contract?

A well-drafted termination clause requires the manager to hand over the signed tenancy agreement and addenda, the security and pet-damage deposits plus interest (transferred to the new manager's trust account or remitted to you), keys and access codes, the rent ledger, copies of all notices served, the vendor list, and the status of any open work orders. The tenancy itself continues unchanged. If the contract is vague about this, fix it before signing.

Should I sign a contract that names the manager as an additional insured on my policy?

It's a common and not unreasonable request, since it gives the manager some coverage for their role in operating the property. Just make sure it's paired with the manager carrying their own liability and errors-and-omissions insurance, and that the indemnity clause doesn't go further and ask you to cover the manager's own negligence. Coverage flowing both ways is fine; you carrying all the risk for their mistakes is not.

Next step

If you'd like a property management agreement that's straightforward to read (full fee schedule on one page, a reasonable termination clause, a sensible spending threshold, and no auto-renewal trap) that's the kind of contract we put in front of owners. Start with a no-pressure consultation on our owners page, or read the full Squamish property management owner's guide first.