What you should expect when you hand over the keys.

Most owners who hire a property manager for the first time don't actually know what they're buying. They know they want the calls to stop. They know they're tired of chasing rent and coordinating plumbers. What they're less clear on is where their responsibilities end and the manager's begin. This is a practical breakdown of what full-service management means in the Sea-to-Sky corridor, what's reasonable to expect, and where the boundaries should be drawn.

The phrase "full-service" gets used loosely in this industry. Some firms mean "we collect the rent and call you when something breaks." Others mean a comprehensive operational handoff where the owner's only job is to read a monthly statement and cash the deposit. This guide describes the latter, which is what I offer as a licensed manager. The framework applies whether your property is rented long-term, by the season, or both.

Part OneWhat "full service" actually means

The clearest way to define full-service management is by what it removes from your life. If you're currently self-managing, ask yourself how many of these touchpoints you've handled in the last twelve months: a tenant calling about a leaking faucet at 9pm, a vacancy notice arriving with thirty days to find a new tenant, a strata fine letter, a quarterly tax remittance you weren't sure was being done correctly, a question about whether you can raise the rent and by how much, a contractor invoice you weren't sure was fair, a furnace that died in February.

Each of these is a small operational event. Individually they're manageable. Cumulatively they're a part-time job you didn't sign up for. Full-service management exists to take all of them off your plate, replace them with a single monthly statement, and give you back the time you originally bought the property to enjoy.

Part TwoWhat's included in our full-service offering

Here's the operational scope of what we handle under a full-service agreement. This isn't an exhaustive list of every individual task, but it covers the categories that matter and the standards we hold ourselves to within each.

Part ThreeWhat's not included, and why that matters

An honest property manager is clear about what falls outside their scope. Confusion here is where owners get hurt, because it's the gap services that nobody is owning, not the ones in the agreement.

I'm a licensed rental property manager operating under the Real Estate Services Act. That defines the work we are licensed and qualified to do. The following sit outside that scope:

• Tax advice. Including questions about rental income reporting, capital cost allowance, non-resident withholding (Section 216), the underused housing tax, or how your rental should be structured for tax purposes. These belong with a CPA who works with real estate.
• Legal advice. Including interpretation of complex tenancy disputes, fitness of contract clauses outside standard RTA agreements, or liability questions. We can refer you to lawyers experienced in BC residential tenancy and real estate matters.
• Real estate sales. If you decide to sell the property, we connect you with a licensed REALTOR® at RE/MAX Sea to Sky. Property management and real estate trading are separately licensed activities, and we operate cleanly within ours.
• Insurance recommendations. We can confirm whether your current coverage meets the requirements we'd expect for a tenanted property, but the policy decisions and product recommendations belong with a licensed insurance broker.
• Renovations and capital improvements. We coordinate maintenance and small repairs. Substantial renovations (cosmetic upgrades, kitchen or bathroom remodels, additions) are a separate project type that we can help scope and refer to qualified contractors, but they sit outside the monthly management fee.

Drawing these lines isn't a limitation. It's the opposite. It means everything inside the line gets done properly by people qualified to do it, and everything outside the line gets routed to professionals who specialize in that work. Owners who try to use one provider for everything almost always end up with at least one part of their property's needs being handled by someone unqualified for it.

Part FourHow we charge

Property management fees in the Sea-to-Sky corridor vary widely, and not always in proportion to the service level. The structure that has become standard for full-service management in BC has three components, and you should expect transparency on all three before signing anything.

Monthly management fee

A percentage of collected rent, charged monthly, plus GST. The rate depends on the length of the tenancy agreement: longer terms carry a lower percentage because they bring more stability and less turnover work, while shorter terms carry a higher percentage to reflect the additional marketing, screening, and turnover involved. In this corridor, that typically runs 10% to 20% of gross rent plus GST, depending on contract length. We provide a clear quote based on your specific property and the term length at the time of engagement.

Leasing fee

A one-time fee charged when a new tenant is placed, plus GST. This covers marketing, showings, screening, and lease execution. For standard placements this is typically a portion of one month's rent; for shorter-term or seasonal placements, the placement fee is a full month's rent. This fee is only charged when there's actually a placement; if the property stays rented year over year, you don't pay it.

Additional service fees

Specific items that fall outside ongoing management may carry additional fees disclosed in advance. Examples include project management of a renovation, attendance at a Residential Tenancy Branch dispute resolution hearing, or coordination of a major insurance claim. These are the exception, not the rule, and a full-service relationship for a typical tenanted property runs on the first two fees alone.

Different commission rates, fees, and services may be offered by other RE/MAX franchisees and sales associates serving this market area. Commissions are negotiable and not set by law.

Part FiveWhat to expect in the first 90 days

The onboarding experience tells you most of what you need to know about how a management relationship will run. Here's what ours looks like.

Week one

Property assessment visit. We walk the unit, document its current condition with photos, note any deferred maintenance or items that need attention before a new tenant moves in, and gather all the operational details we need (strata bylaws, utility accounts, warranties, keys, fobs, parking arrangements). Management agreement signed.

Weeks two to four

If the property is vacant, marketing begins. If there's an existing tenant, we introduce ourselves to them, transition rent collection to our system, and complete a mid-tenancy inspection so we have a baseline condition report. We notify the strata of the management change. Owner onboarded to the owner portal with login credentials and a walkthrough of how to use it.

Months two and three

Normal operations begin. First monthly statement issued. Maintenance authorizations confirmed. Communication patterns established. By the end of month three, the relationship should feel routine: you receive a clear monthly statement, you respond to the occasional approval request, and the property runs without you thinking about it.

If by month three you're still receiving frequent calls or feel like you're being asked to make operational decisions you'd reasonably expect a manager to handle, that's a sign the relationship isn't full-service in practice, regardless of what the agreement says.

Part SixWhy we operate under RE/MAX Sea to Sky

I operate with RE/MAX Sea to Sky Real Estate as my brokerage. This matters in a few practical ways for owners.

RE/MAX Sea to Sky has been operating in this corridor for decades and is one of the most established real estate brokerages in Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton. The brokerage relationship means I operate under their licensing oversight, professional standards, and errors and omissions insurance framework. For owners, this provides an additional layer of accountability and a recognized name behind the service.

It also means that when your needs extend beyond rental management (selling the property, buying another, or relocating) we have direct access to a full team of REALTORS® who specialize in this corridor and can introduce you to the right person without sending you out into the market to find one yourself.

Common questions about full-service management