Who tells my tenants that the property manager is changing?

You do, in writing, and the new manager prepares the notice and delivers it. If you own a rental in Fort Worth, Keller or North Richland Hills, the lease is a contract between you and the tenant, and a manager is your agent under it. So the instruction to pay rent to a different company has to trace back to you. A letter from an unknown company asking for the rent looks like a scam.

This guide covers who sends what, what Texas law requires, what the notice says, when it goes out and what happens to the deposit. The handover timeline for owners moving from self-management shows where the notice sits in the first weeks.

Who tells the tenant what when the property manager is changing

These are the messages a tenant receives during a change of property manager, who each one comes from and when it should arrive:

How to read this table: the first four rows are one page, sent once, before rent is due. The fifth is the only row with a deadline in Texas law, and a good notice answers it before the tenant has to ask. The last row is a courtesy that prevents the most common worry.

Why the notice has to come from you

Three reasons. The first is who the parties are. The lease is between you and the tenant, and Property Code 92.001 defines the landlord as the owner, lessor or sublessor. A manager is the landlord's agent. A stranger cannot make itself your agent by writing to your tenant; only you can appoint it. So the notice either carries your name or says plainly that it is sent on your instruction, with a way to confirm that with you.

The second reason is trust. Tenants are warned about people posing as landlords and asking for rent to go somewhere new. A letter with the owner's name, the property address, the lease date and contact details the tenant already knows removes the doubt.

The third is proof. If rent is paid late or to the wrong party after the switch, the question will be whether the tenant was properly told. A dated written notice, delivered the way the lease says notices are delivered, is that proof. Keep a copy with the lease.

What Texas law requires when the property manager changes

No section of the Property Code says "send a letter when you hire a new manager." What the law does is give the tenant a right to know who owns and who manages the home, and it attaches penalties to wrong information that is not corrected.

• Section 92.201: a landlord must disclose the name and address of the record title holder and, if an off-site company is primarily responsible for managing the dwelling, that company's name and street address. It is due in writing on or before the seventh day after the tenant asks, or it can already be in the lease.
• Section 92.203: if that information was given in the lease or by posting and a name or address changes, the landlord is liable if it is not corrected within seven days after the tenant gives written notice that the tenant may use the remedies in the subchapter unless it is corrected.
• Section 92.205: a tenant's remedies include a judgment for one month's rent plus $100, court costs and attorney's fees, and ending the lease without going to court.

Many leases print the management company's name and address. On the day you switch, that line is out of date. Section 92.201(e) lets a correction be made by any of the methods allowed for the original disclosure, and a written notice to the tenant is one of them. Your change-of-manager notice does that job if it carries the new company's name and street address.

Section 92.006 adds that these disclosure duties cannot be waived in the lease. This is general information, not legal advice. Your lease may add its own rule on how notices are delivered, so read its notice clause before anything goes out.

What the notice must say

A good notice fits on one page and answers every question the tenant will have before they can ask it.

• The property address, the tenant names and the lease date, so the tenant can match it to their own copy.
• A plain statement that the lease is unchanged: same rent, same due date, same deposit, same term.
• The name and street address of the new management company and the date from which it is authorized to collect rent, handle repairs and send and receive notices on your behalf.
• Exactly how to pay from that date: portal, link or address, and that a portal invitation will follow by email.
• The maintenance contact for routine repairs and the emergency number.
• Who holds the security deposit from that date, and that the amount is unchanged.
• If applicable, that the previous company is no longer authorized to collect rent or enter the house.
• Your name and signature, or a clear statement that the notice is sent on your instruction, and the new manager's contact details beneath it.

Leave out anything the tenant does not need: the reasons you are switching, complaints about the old company, or hints about future rent. The guide to professional tenant communication explains why that restraint pays off later.

When to send it: before the next rent date, with room to spare

Time the notice to the rent cycle. The tenant needs enough days to receive the letter, get the portal invitation, set up a payment method and cancel any automatic transfer to you or the old company. Sending it the day before rent is due invites a late payment that nobody deserves.

Say the switch is agreed on the twelfth and rent is due on the first. The notice goes out that week, stating that rent for the current month stays as already arranged and that rent from the first of next month goes to the new company. The payment instructions follow, and the manager checks that the tenant has set up payment before the due date. On the first, the payment lands where it should.

If the switch happens in the last days of a month, it is often cleaner to let the current cycle finish with the old arrangement and start the new company on the following due date, while repairs and emergencies move to the new manager at once. The letter can say both things.

The security deposit: the manager changes, your obligation does not

Tenants often worry about the deposit in a handover, so the notice should mention it. The rule is simple. Property Code 92.103 puts the duty to refund the deposit on the landlord, within 30 days after the tenant surrenders the home, and section 92.001 defines the landlord as the owner, lessor or sublessor, not the manager. A management company holds the money for you. It does not take over your obligation.

That is why the deposit transfer matters more to you than to the tenant. If the old company is slow to send it, the tenant is still owed the refund or an itemized list of deductions at move-out (section 92.104), and it is owed by you. Section 92.106 also requires the landlord to keep accurate records of all security deposits, so ask the old company for a written statement of the balance.

One clarification, because owners often mix the two up. The signed statement about the deposit in Property Code 92.105 is required when the owner changes, for example after a sale. Hiring or replacing a manager is not a change of owner, and that section does not apply. A line in your notice saying who holds the deposit and that the amount is unchanged is a courtesy, and a useful one. The details of moving the money are in deposits, unpaid rent and open repair bills when you switch mid-lease.

What the new manager does after the letter

The letter opens the door. The manager walks through it.

• A phone call or email introducing the manager by name, confirming the tenant received the notice and answering questions.
• The portal invitation and a check that the tenant has set up payment before the due date.
• A request to confirm occupants, vehicles, pets and emergency contacts, which updates the file.
• Scheduling a documented inspection with the entry notice the lease provides, explained as a routine condition record and not an investigation.
• A restatement of the lease rules that will now be applied as written, with a start date, if the previous arrangement had become informal.

Tenants who have been dealing directly with an owner sometimes feel the switch as a loss of flexibility. The follow-up call is where a good manager answers that: one place for repairs, and a lease that works the same way every month. The guide to a tenant-in-place takeover covers the weeks after, and switching without interrupting rent payments covers the payment change.

Special cases: old company, family tenant, mid-dispute

If you are leaving another management company, the old company may send its own closing notice to the tenant. That is fine as long as yours arrives first or alongside it and the dates agree. Ask the old company what it intends to send and when, so the tenant does not get two letters with different cutover dates.

If the tenant is a friend or relative who has been paying you informally, the notice is the same but the conversation should come first. Call, explain that a manager will now handle the house, then send the letter. A relative who learns of the change from a form letter is a relationship problem you did not need.

If the tenant is in a dispute with you or the old company, keep the notice neutral and factual, and let the manager address the dispute separately once it has the file. This is general information rather than legal advice. If the dispute involves unpaid rent or a repair claim, have the manager or an attorney review the notice before it goes out.

How Perpetual handles this

When Perpetual Property Management takes over a rental with a tenant in place, we work in the order our switching page lists. We review your current agreement and its notice terms first. You give notice to your current manager, and after that we handle the coordination with that company. We request the lease, security deposit, keys, tenant ledger, property records and open work orders. Then the tenant receives instructions explaining where to pay rent and how to submit maintenance requests, and we design the handover so rent never misses a beat.

After that we complete an enrollment inspection so there is a condition record from the day we start. The tenant can submit maintenance requests with photos through the portal, every plan includes 24/7 emergency response, and rent collection runs under the lease the tenant already signed.

We are broker-owned, with our office at 5755 Rufe Snow Dr in North Richland Hills, and we manage homes in Keller, North Richland Hills, Fort Worth and nearby. The exact wording of the tenant notice, whose signature it carries and how the deposit is held are confirmed in writing before you sign. To talk through a change of manager on your rental, call 682-593-7033.

The takeaway: The tenant hears it from you, in a one-page notice the new manager drafts, sent with enough time before the rent date for payment to switch cleanly, and the manager's follow-up call does the rest.

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