MHP Weekly has taken you through our process for finding Rockstar property managers. It’s been one of our most popular posts so hopefully you’ve found that informative.
To finish the loop we’ll now cover the process for firing a Piss-Poor Manager (sorry for the language, we have some emotional baggage here).
If you’ve never fired someone, surprise, surprise…it's not fun.
But, we’ve been hit in the face so many times we finally internalized this: you ALWAYS regret not biting the bullet & letting a bad seed go sooner. The only exception is if you’ve done a poor job of communicating expectations and setting goals for them. They need CLEAR direction.
But, once you’ve realized enough damage is being done (either through complacency, theft, negligence, etc), here are the two common firing scenarios:
On-the-spot termination - where the manager is required to leave immediately (and you are unable to prepare a replacement)
A premeditated termination - where you’re given time to line up a replacement & prepare a seamless transition.
On-The-Spot Termination
Sometimes an abrupt firing is required - the manager needs to leave the property immediately (usually theft or other illegal activity) & you aren’t able to prepare are replacement.
These can be hairy situations as the owner/asset management is taking back control of the property.
There’s a few things you’ll need to think about immediately.
Change Passwords …Now
This is the modern equivalent of change the locks, which…you should also do. Make sure they no longer have access to management software, tenant information, or manager emails. Even if the manager was harmless & somewhat trustworthy you want to eliminate sabotage risk.
Park Property vs Personal Property
In some of our parks the manager’s home was the ‘office.’ Like, your check scanner / property records are tucked into her knitting corner. This makes things difficult.
Yet another reason to buy larger parks, but we digress.
We’ve had instances where a fired manager refused to hand over the park files & check scanner. Its a precarious situation as tenant personal information (SS#s, DL#s, income information etc) are now in the hands of your disgruntled ex-manager. Fun.
If you haven’t already, get digital backups for all files & make sure tenants have alternative options to paying rent (ACH, Walmart payment kiosks etc.) in case you don’t have a new check scanner handy. If you have a portfolio, always have a couple scanners in inventory just in case.
Notices to Tenants
Regardless if the termination was abrupt or planned, get notices to tenants out immediately (this is challenging, but you should always have as many accurate tenant emails & phone numbers as possible).
Post notices on doors as well.
Legal Cover
It’s important to think about your exposure legally. I.e. cover your ass before pulling the trigger. That time your manager sent you or your team an inappropriate, profanity laced text just because, yeah - file that one away just in case.
It’s sad that business owners have to do this now, but disgruntled employee lawsuits are getting out of hand (and sound awful), so take the necessary precautions.
Many large companies have a person exclusively hired to fire people. They’re trained to stick to the script & keep liability exposure low during employee termination.
The same scenario applies to park ownership, stick to the script, don’t get emotional and don’t make this a therapy session for them or you.
Planned Termination
If you’re fortunate to have some prep time for transitioning managers here’s our process.
In the past we’ve usually let managers go in the morning (why drag it out all day) and had the new manager on standby & trained the rest of the day. This is helpful for a few reasons.
We don’t want tenants to feel like there’s no one to help with overnight emergencies.
Avoid grace periods between managers where the owner / operator’s answering the phone. Trust us, tenants will always circumvent the manager & call you directly once they get your contact information.
Seamless transitions tend to give off the impression corporate is on top of things - which is comforting to tenants and makes them want to stay at your property.
If the thought of firing someone makes you uneasy, hire an asset manager (or property management firm) to oversee your property managers. Otherwise, you’re holding back the performance of your portfolio by avoiding uncomfortable conversations.
Happy Trails,
MHP Weekly