On a rent collected basis you pay no management fee while the house is empty or the tenant is not paying; on a rent due basis the fee accrues on the scheduled rent whether or not any money arrives. Which one you have is decided by the few words that follow the percentage in the compensation clause, and most owners never read them. The percentage gets all the attention, but the base it is applied to decides what you pay in the months that hurt most.
I have read agreements from owners in Keller, North Richland Hills and Fort Worth that used both bases, and the owners rarely knew which one they had signed. This guide shows how each model behaves, works through a year with a vacancy and a missed month, and gives you the wording to ask for.
Rent collected versus rent due: the clause that decides it
A rent collected fee is calculated on money the manager actually received on your behalf in that month. No rent in, no fee out. The manager's income rises and falls with yours.
A rent due fee, sometimes written as gross scheduled rent, monthly rent or contract rent, is calculated on the amount the lease says is owed. If the lease says $2,000 and the tenant paid nothing, the fee is still computed on $2,000 and taken from whatever funds are available, usually your reserve or the next deposit that does come in.
Both are legal and both exist in Texas. The difference is who carries the risk of a bad month. Under rent collected, the manager shares it. Under rent due, you carry all of it and keep paying for management of a problem that is not producing income.
What you pay when the house is empty under each model
During a vacancy there is no tenant and no rent, so on a rent collected basis the monthly management fee is zero. You will still pay for real costs of the vacancy: utilities you have switched into your name, lawn service, any make-ready work, and the leasing fee once a tenant is placed. Those are separate charges and they are the honest ones to budget for.
On a rent due basis, agreements handle vacancy one of three ways, and you need to find which one yours uses:
- The fee pauses because there is no lease and therefore no scheduled rent. This is the fairest version of rent due and it behaves like rent collected during vacancy.
- A vacancy fee or minimum monthly fee applies instead. This is a flat amount charged for keeping the file open, checking the house and handling the listing.
- The fee continues on the last rent amount, which is rare, but I have seen it in older agreements and it should be struck before signing.
If you are weighing what an empty month really costs beyond the fee, what a vacant month really costs a rental owner adds up the rest of the bill.
What happens when the tenant stops paying
Non-payment is where the two models separate hardest, because the house is occupied and the manager is doing more work, not less: notices, calls, payment plans, and possibly an eviction filing. Under rent collected, you owe no management fee for the month the tenant skipped, and the manager is paid again when rent, late fees or a judgment is actually collected.
Under rent due, the fee is charged for the skipped month as if the rent had arrived, and it comes out of your reserve. If the case runs into a second and third month, the fees keep accruing against money that may never be recovered. Owners in that position often first notice when a statement shows a negative balance and a request to top up the reserve.
There is a fair middle ground some managers use: no fee on the missed month, but a fee on the eventual collection, including late fees, because that collection is the work. Make sure the agreement says what happens to the fee if the tenant pays the arrears later. For the full sequence of notices and timelines, read what happens when a tenant pays late in Texas.
Partial payments, late fees and what the fee attaches to
Real months are messier than full rent or no rent. A tenant pays half on the fifth and the rest on the twentieth. A late fee is added. A pet rent line sits beside the base rent. Each of these raises the question of what the percentage is applied to.
Under a clean rent collected clause, the fee attaches to each dollar as it is received, so a half payment produces half a fee that month. Late fees are a separate matter: some agreements let the manager keep late fees as compensation for chasing them, some split them, and some treat them as owner income with the normal percentage taken. None of these is wrong, but the agreement should say which applies, because over a long tenancy late fees can add up.
Pet rent, utility reimbursements and other recurring tenant charges are usually treated as rent for fee purposes if they are collected monthly. One-time charges such as a damage reimbursement or a returned-check fee normally are not. If the agreement is silent, ask for a sentence that defines rent for the purpose of the fee.
A worked year with one vacancy and one missed month
Take illustrative numbers: rent of $2,000, a management fee of 10 percent used only as an example, a one-month vacancy in month seven, and a tenant who skips month ten and never pays it back. The leasing fee and repair costs are left out so the comparison isolates the management fee.
- Rent collected basis. Rent arrives in ten of twelve months, so $20,000 is collected and the fee is $2,000 for the year. Months seven and ten cost you the lost rent and nothing else in management fees.
- Rent due basis with a vacancy pause. The fee pauses in month seven but is charged on the $2,000 scheduled for month ten even though nothing came in. The fee is $2,200 for the year, and the extra $200 is taken from your reserve during the month you are also funding a late-rent problem.
- Rent due basis with a vacancy fee. Add whatever the vacancy fee is for month seven. If it were, say, $100 as an example, the year's fee is $2,300.
The gap is not dramatic in a good year. It widens quickly when a non-payment case runs three months and ends in an eviction, which is exactly when you want the manager's pay tied to results. That is the real reason the fee base matters more than a half-point difference in the percentage.
How to read the agreement wording, and what to ask for
The fee base is usually in the compensation section, often in a single phrase. Look for the words that follow the percentage. Of rents collected, of gross receipts, or of monies received all point to a collected basis. Of monthly rent, of scheduled rent, of gross rent or of the rental amount all point to a due basis. If the agreement says a percentage of rent without qualifying it, it is ambiguous, and ambiguity in a contract the manager wrote should be resolved before you sign, not argued about later.
Wording to ask for, in plain terms:
- The management fee is calculated on rent and other recurring charges actually received during the month.
- No management fee is charged for any month in which the property is vacant.
- Late fees are handled as follows, with the split stated.
- The fee on arrears collected later, including through a judgment, is stated.
A manager who runs a collected basis will agree to this language without hesitation because it describes what they already do. Hesitation tells you something. The broader checklist for the rest of the contract is in the property management agreement: what to look for, and the pricing and fees page shows how Perpetual lays every fee out in writing.
Why the fee base changes how a manager behaves
A manager paid on rent collected has a direct stake in three things you care about: filling the vacancy fast, screening so the tenant keeps paying, and resolving non-payment quickly rather than letting it drift. Every empty or unpaid month costs the manager money too.
A manager paid on rent due is insulated from the same months. That does not make them negligent, but it removes the pressure. I have seen rent due agreements where a non-paying tenant sat for months while the owner's reserve was drawn down for fees, and the manager's statements looked fine. The incentive design did not force urgency, so there was none.
This is a cousin of the broader point in how property managers get paid and why it changes how they behave: follow where the money comes from and you can predict where the attention goes.
Minimum fees, flat fees and the exceptions worth accepting
Not every departure from pure rent collected is a problem. A few are reasonable if they are disclosed and small:
- A minimum monthly fee on very low-rent units, so that managing a property is not done below cost. It should be stated as a number and should not apply during vacancy.
- A flat monthly fee instead of a percentage. Flat fees are by nature charged whether rent comes in or not, so ask specifically what happens during vacancy and non-payment.
- A vacant-property service fee when the manager is genuinely doing vacant checks, holding utilities and coordinating a make-ready for a house that sits empty for an extended time, for example while you decide whether to sell.
What you should not accept is a percentage fee on scheduled rent during a month when the manager collected nothing and the agreement never says so plainly. If the quote you are comparing cannot answer the question in one sentence, treat that as your answer.
How Perpetual handles this
Perpetual charges the management fee on rent actually collected. When your house in Keller, North Richland Hills or Fort Worth is empty, or a tenant has not paid, there is no management fee for that month. That is written into the agreement, not just said at the consultation, and it is the reason I push hard on pricing, marketing and screening: an empty or non-paying month costs my company too.
Before you sign, you receive a written quote with every fee listed, including exactly what rent means for fee purposes and how late fees are handled. Every month you get a statement in the owner portal showing rent received, the fee computed on it, and every other line, so you can check the math yourself. Perpetual is broker-owned and local, which means the person who wrote the agreement is the one accountable for it.
If you want to see how a collected-basis quote compares with the one on your desk, request a free rental analysis and I will walk you through both.
The takeaway: The percentage is the headline, but the base it is charged on decides what you pay in the months that matter most, so get the words rent collected into the agreement before you sign.
Questions owners ask
Are management fees based on rent collected or rent that's due?
It depends entirely on the agreement, and both models are common in Texas. A rent collected fee is calculated on money the manager actually received that month, so a vacant or unpaid month produces no fee. A rent due fee is calculated on the scheduled rent in the lease and is charged whether or not the tenant paid, usually from your reserve. Look for the words right after the percentage in the compensation clause, and ask the manager to confirm in writing.
Do I still pay management fees when my house is empty?
Under a rent collected agreement, no. There is no rent, so there is no fee, though you still pay the real costs of vacancy such as utilities, lawn care and the make-ready. Under a rent due agreement it depends on the vacancy wording: some pause the fee, some charge a flat vacancy or minimum fee, and a few keep charging on the last rent amount. Ask the specific question before signing and get the answer in the contract.
Does the manager charge a fee on late fees and pet rent?
Usually pet rent and other recurring monthly charges count as rent for fee purposes. Late fees are handled three ways: the manager keeps them, they are split, or they are treated as owner income with the normal percentage applied. Any of those can be fair, but the agreement should state which one applies so the choice is not made for you later.
If the tenant pays the back rent later, does the manager take a fee then?
On a rent collected basis, yes, the fee is normally taken when the arrears are actually collected, whether through a payment plan or a judgment. That is the fair point to pay it, since collection is the work. Make sure the agreement does not charge the fee both when the rent was due and again when it is collected.
Is a rent due fee ever acceptable?
It can be if it pauses during vacancy, is small, and you are getting a lower percentage in exchange for carrying the non-payment risk yourself. Most owners are better served by a collected basis because it ties the manager's pay to the results they control. Whichever you choose, the agreement must say in one plain sentence what happens in a vacant month and in an unpaid month.
Related services
Property management in Keller, North Richland Hills and Fort Worth. How full-service management works in Tarrant County →
