How much notice do we have to give to change property managers? QLD.

As the title says! We are unhappy with our current property managers who we were switched over to by default when our last agency ceased doing property management. Their performance has been poor and we want to switch agencies.
The tenants have a contract but i cant see anything anywhere that says were are bound to the agency? Is there a protocol with switching? Ie. do we need to give them a certain amount of notice?

The house is in QLD.

Thanks!
 
You would have signed a contract with the agency for them to be your property managers. That would state the amount of notice you agreed to give. If you did not sign one with the new agent you have no obligation to them.
This happened to me. The agent handed it over to another but I never signed the new contract as I wanted to see how they went. They tried to get me to give 60 days notice but I just laughed and said "I'll be around to pick up the keys at the end of the week".
 
You can leave them immediately but it may cost you.

I believe that most management agreements have a default '90 days' clause about notice. If you didn't alter that on the management agreement then should you decide to terminate early, you will be liable to pay them the commission they would otherwise receive pro-rata for the part of the 90 days that you ceased to use them.

Even if you haven't signed anything with this new agency, check the original management agreement that you signed with the first agency. Was the box ticked showing that you agreed for the management to be assigned to another agency? If that is the case, I'm not sure of the legalities but I would assume that you have the same obligations to the new agency, possibly even if you didn't sign another agreement with them. (Happy to be corrected on that by more knowledgeable members)

The good news is that there are many reputable management agencies who will happily take on your business and waive their first 3 months fees. This allows you to terminate immediately with a no loss situation.

If the agency isn't doing the job right, I'd investigate a new agency pronto. Even if the agency you want doesn't waive their first three months fees, I feel it can be better in the long run to get a good agency going sooner rather than later. Once you have selected the new agency they should take care of the changeover, with only a few documents signed by you.

However, with any new agreement, cross out the '90 days' notice and change it to '30 days' which I think is the minimum that can be applied. And change the assignment clause. :D
 
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