A property management handover is a records transfer. Keys and fobs matter, but the items that cost money later are the ones only the outgoing manager can produce: what each tenant paid as a deposit, when each rent was last raised, and which notices have already been served. Once their software licence lapses and their staff move on, those answers get expensive to rebuild.
Run it as four blocks, in this order, and start while the outgoing manager still has system access. Two weeks is comfortable. Two days is not.
Block 1: The money, unit by unit
Ask for a deposit ledger per unit, never a portfolio total. For each unit you want the amount held, the date it was collected, the interest paid to date, and the date of the last interest payment.
The interest line is the one people skip. In Ontario, section 106(6) of the Residential Tenancies Act requires the landlord to pay interest on a rent deposit annually, at the rent increase guideline in effect when payment comes due, and section 106(9) lets the tenant deduct it from a later rent payment if it was never paid. A gap in the interest record is a liability you have now inherited. Section 106(10) also treats the deposit as the last month of rent, so it is money already spent, and you need to know it exists before that month arrives.
Then confirm the cash moves, not only the spreadsheet. Alberta landlords must hold deposits in a dedicated interest-bearing trust account at a bank, treasury branch, credit union or trust company, funded within two banking days of collection, so a handover there means an actual transfer between trust accounts. In British Columbia, section 93 of the Residential Tenancy Act says a landlord's deposit obligations run with the land or reversion. If the money never arrives, the tenant is still owed it.
Two more items belong here. Get an arrears list with the date each balance started, not only the amount. And get the pre-authorized debit file. Under Payments Canada Rule H1, an existing PAD agreement can be assigned only if the tenant signed one with an assignment clause; otherwise the new payee gives at least 10 days written notice of the transfer before pulling funds, or signs fresh agreements. Find that out three weeks before your first rent run, not on the 1st.
Block 2: The rent history
For every occupied unit, get the current lawful rent, the effective date of the last increase, and a copy of the notice that took it.
That date is load bearing in Ontario. Section 119(1) allows an increase only once at least 12 months have elapsed since the last one, and section 116(1) requires 90 days written notice before it takes effect. Section 116(4) makes an increase void if the notice was not given. So if the last-increase date is missing from the file, you have two options: guess and risk a void increase, or wait and lose the year. Neither is a good conversation with the owner.
Ask for the exceptions in writing too: units under a Board order for an above-guideline increase, and any unit believed to be exempt from the guideline. Get the reasoning, not only the conclusion, because you are the one who has to defend it.
Block 3: The legal file
Collect every notice served in the last two years with its proof of service, every open tribunal file with its number and hearing date, and every written agreement made with a tenant. Repayment plans, parking and storage agreements, pet arrangements and one-off side letters all bind you the day you take over. Section 18 of the Ontario Act puts it plainly: covenants concerning a rental unit run with the land.
In British Columbia, condition inspection reports go in this block and they are worth chasing hard. Under sections 24(2) and 36(2) of the BC Act, a landlord's right to claim against a deposit is extinguished if the report was not completed and given to the tenant as the regulations require. A verbal assurance that an inspection happened is not the asset. The signed report is. Flag any unit missing one, so nobody budgets for a claim that cannot be made.
Block 4: The accounts, then the keys
List every account the building depends on and record who the registered account holder is, not who has the password. Access ends when someone revokes it. Ownership does not.
The list: domain registrar, leasing email, the phone number, listing portal accounts, the Google Business Profile, the fob and access control system, utility accounts, insurance certificates, and vendor contracts with their notice periods. The phone number is the one that bites, because Canadian ports validate on an exact account-name match and the account often sits with an answering service or an agency.
Get the unit labelling convention in writing as well. Whether a unit is 0304, 304 or Unit 304 decides whether your systems can be joined back together after the migration. Then count keys and fobs against the unit list, ask who holds the card for any restricted master key system, and set a date to cut the outgoing manager's credentials.
The request email
Send it early, to a named person, with a deadline.
Subject: Handover file request, [property], transfer date [date]
We take over management of [property] on [date]. Please send the following as one package by [date minus 10 days], and confirm the date your team's system access ends.
- Deposit ledger by unit: amount held, date collected, interest paid, date of last interest payment
- Trust account transfer details
- Current arrears by tenant, with the date each balance started
- Pre-authorized debit file and copies of the PAD agreements
- Current lawful rent and last increase date by unit, with copies of the notices
- All notices served in the last 24 months, with proof of service
- Open tribunal files with numbers and hearing dates
- All written tenant agreements, including repayment plans
- Signed condition inspection reports by unit
- Every account with its registered account holder named
- The unit numbering convention
- Key and fob counts by unit
The 30-day check
Put a reminder in for a month out and verify four things. Deposits held reconcile to units occupied. The first rent run cleared, with every failure chased the same day. Mail and the old phone line are forwarding. The outgoing manager's credentials are off the access control system.
The handover is done when you can answer any tenant question from your own records. Until then you are still borrowing someone else's memory, and they have no reason to keep it.