Client Handbook

Thank you for selecting RL Property Management for your Columbus property management needs. We appreciate your business.

Please read this handbook carefully. It contains important information about our services, policies and processes. Use the contents on the left, or scroll, to jump to any section. If anything is unclear, please let us know. We are always happy to help.

Rent Disbursement

We disburse funds electronically on the 10th of each month. It takes about 2 to 3 business days to appear in your account. You will receive an automated email when the funds are issued.

Contact Information

After your client onboarding is complete, you will be assigned to a Property Manager who is your primary point of contact at RL. If your assigned Property Manager is ever unreachable, you can always call our office at (614) 725-3059 and press 0 to connect with a member of our team. You can also email us at info@rlpmg.com to make sure your request is seen and addressed promptly.

If you need to reach a specific staff member, their direct numbers are below. If they are unable to assist directly, we will make sure you get the answer from the right person.

Who to contact

Online Account Access

To log in to your owner portal, scroll to the bottom of our website and click Owner Login, or go directly to rlp.managebuilding.com/Manager.

The owner portal is your go-to place for the latest information about your property, including:

• Reports, such as rent roll, income (profit and loss) statements, and balance sheets
• Downloadable PDF copies of your Property Management Agreement
• Downloadable PDF copies of all leases
• Downloadable PDF copies of all invoices and bills, including maintenance
• Whether your residents have paid rent
• The status of security deposits

Many clients find the owner portal is one of their favourite features, because it gives them access to critical information instantly. If you have any questions about navigating it, or you forget your username or password, get in touch. The portal is a built-in feature of the property management software we use in the office, so it is always up to date.

Your Property Account Balance

Each property you have under management is allocated its own financial account in our system. As rent comes in, or as you make owner contributions, the dollar amount goes up. As funds are disbursed to you, or come out to pay maintenance and repairs, it goes down. The cash belonging to that specific property at any given point is the property balance.

If your property account balance ever goes into the negative, we may ask you to make an owner contribution to restore it. This is a State of Ohio regulatory requirement.

Your Maintenance Reserve

To make sure we can act quickly when something needs fixing, we set a target amount, or minimum threshold, for your property account balance. This is your maintenance reserve. The amount varies by the type and number of properties you have with us, and runs from $350 to $1,500 per unit depending on plan. Ideally the balance in each property account never goes below it. This is not a separate account, just a target dollar amount.

When we disburse to you, we issue all the money available in the property account down to the maintenance reserve. If you have $1,500 in your property account on the 10th and the reserve is $350, you receive the difference. If the balance is below the reserve, there is no disbursement that month.

If Your Unit Is Vacant at Handover

When we take over a vacant property, the only bill we automatically take over paying on your behalf right away is the water bill, typically issued by the City of Columbus. We handle updating the city by providing a copy of your management agreement, and the bills start coming to our office. There is a $10 per bill bill-pay fee per bill. If you keep receiving water bills, let us know.

If you would like us to handle the other utility bills while the property is vacant, update the billing address on file with the provider to:

Rent Payments and Eviction

Rent is due by the the 1st. In practice many residents pay between the the 1st and the 5th. If applicable, late fees are assessed. If a resident has not paid after the 5th, here is the timetable of escalation. At any point in this process the resident can pay the balance in full to cancel the pending eviction.

Cost of a normal eviction

Subject to change without notice.

Vacancies and Leasing

RL Property Management has a system for turning over rental property. It begins as soon as we receive notice of a move-out, or become aware of a vacancy. A turn is what we call the process of turning over a vacant unit and making it ready to rent again. Here is what to expect before, during and after one.

In advance of the vacancy, if we receive notice

• Communicate with the residents as to their exact move-out date.
• Provide the residents detailed move-out instructions.
• Arrange for the appropriate utilities to be placed into the property owner’s name, care of our office.
• Perform a pre-moveout inspection within 30 to 60 days of a scheduled vacancy to assess the unit’s condition. A detailed turn scope is prepared with cost estimates for necessary repairs and improvements.

Once vacant

• A lock box is placed at the property.
• We immediately secure the property, with locks re-keyed by a professional locksmith and windows and doors locked, and perform a move-out inspection. If the unit has a pest infestation, these steps are delayed until treatments have successfully eradicated the pests.
• Any remaining items or garbage are removed and disposed of by our hauling vendor.
• A list of items to be repaired and a price estimate is generated, which is the scope.
• The scope is sent to the owner for final review and approval.
• Owner remits funds, which is required to begin work at the property.
• Once the owner has approved the turnover work and provided funding, our maintenance team makes the unit rent-ready. This proactive process helps minimise vacancy time. Alternatively, the owner may handle the rent-ready work themselves, on supported plans.

Listing

• At our discretion, if work is underway and a completion date is fairly well known, we may list the unit in order to generate leads.
• Professional photos are taken.
• The property is listed for rent on over 50 rental listing websites including Zillow, Realtor, Trulia, Zumper and HotPads.

After listing

• Leads, by phone and email, are organised and followed up with.
• Prospective residents who express interest are pre-screened on the phone, and if qualified we schedule a showing.
• At the showing, prospective residents are told to fill out an application online.
• Once we receive a complete application from all adults who plan to live at the property, including proof of income and rental history, we process it and either approve or deny.
• If approved, a lease signing is scheduled.
• At the lease signing we collect the security deposit. If they plan to move in right away, we collect first month’s rent and give them the keys.
• After a lease is signed, we de-list the property and notify the owner.
• We confirm that the residents have placed the utilities into their name.
• If your property has been listed for rent for longer than 60 days, we proactively credit management fees to your account as appropriate. This keeps things fair and transparent when a property experiences an extended vacancy.
• If a resident moves in mid-month, we typically collect a full month’s rent at move-in. Any prorated rent for the partial first month is applied to the second month, so the second payment may be lower than the first.
• Vacant unit inspections are conducted biweekly during the leasing period and weekly in winter for $20 each.

Fair Housing Compliance and Resident Screening

Owning and leasing rental property comes with important legal responsibilities. Fair housing laws exist to ensure equal access to housing and to protect both residents and property owners through consistent, non-discriminatory practices.

Our leasing and screening processes are designed to comply with federal, state and local fair housing laws while helping place qualified residents who respect the property and meet lease obligations.

Fair housing laws

At the federal level, the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination in housing based on the following protected classes:

• Race
• Color
• National origin
• Religion
• Sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity
• Disability
• Familial status, including pregnancy and households with children

In addition to federal protections:

• Ohio law adds protections related to military status.
• The City of Columbus includes protections for sexual orientation, gender identity, and source of income, including lawful housing assistance programs such as Section 8.

Section 8 housing

We comply with Section 8 and source-of-income housing laws in all applicable jurisdictions, including Columbus, Bexley, Reynoldsburg and Westerville. Where required, CMHA voucher holders are permitted to apply and are screened using the same objective, written criteria as all applicants. Approval or denial decisions are based solely on documented screening standards, not the source of income.

Our resident screening standards

All applicants are screened using the same written criteria and process. Our screening includes a review of:

• Credit history
• Criminal background, as permitted by law
• Rental history, including prior evictions and landlord references
• Employment and income verification, such as pay stubs or bank statements

All adult occupants must submit a complete application and supporting documentation before a leasing decision is made. Approval or denial decisions are based solely on objective, documented screening criteria, not personal characteristics or subjective judgment.

Our commitment to fair housing compliance

Fair housing compliance is not optional, and it is not treated as a checkbox. We are committed to:

• Applying the same screening standards to every applicant
• Using consistent advertising, showing and leasing practices
• Staying informed of changes to federal, Ohio and Columbus fair housing regulations
• Protecting property owners from avoidable legal risk through compliant processes

By following clear standards and documented procedures, we help reduce liability, prevent discrimination claims, and create a professional, transparent leasing process.

Lease Renewals and Rent Increases

The standard RL lease automatically renews on expiration unless the resident or the broker give 30 days written notice. The automatic renewal includes a 2.5% rent increase. Property owners may request a larger increase: notify our office at least 90 days before renewal if you prefer one, noting it may increase the risk of a non-renewal. Residents may elect to sign a new clean lease renewal, but it is not required and not pursued by default. In either case a lease renewal fee is charged to the owner on the date the lease renews.

Residents may elect to go month-to-month at the end of the initial lease term. Our lease requires a 20% rent increase if they choose this, and we do allow it. A lease renewal fee is not charged when the lease goes month-to-month. However, if the resident remains month-to-month for 12 consecutive months at the higher rate, a lease renewal fee is charged at that time. The same applies for a Section 8 resident for whom we secured a rate increase from CMHA.

Maintenance and Repairs

Requests for maintenance and repairs come to our office from the residents and are handled by our maintenance department.

Many requests are handled by our internal maintenance team, who are direct employees of RL Property Management. The maintenance labour rate in 2026 for our employees is $84 per hour plus a $15 trip charge per visit during normal business hours. Materials are generally provided at cost. There is no minimum charge. In the rare event our maintenance employees work after hours or at weekends, the labour rate is 2x for weekday evenings and Saturdays, and 3x for Sundays.

Other work is contracted out. The total cost of contracted work, services and purchases required for property repair, operation, maintenance or improvement is subject to a 15% project management fee on vendor costs up to $3,000, capped at $450 per project. This fee does not apply to work done by our internal maintenance team, or to work done for property turns.

Key maintenance rates

Residents are given a 24-hour maintenance emergency number to call if something serious happens. The call centre is authorised to dispatch certain repair companies if there is a true safety or building integrity issue.

Utility Setup and Billing

By default we transfer water and sewer, electric and gas service into the property owner’s name once a unit becomes vacant. The utility setup fee for handling this is $30 per utility. That covers the time spent dealing with the utility companies to get service into the owner’s name between residents, typically AEP and Columbia Gas, which have become much harder to deal with for property owners and managers. It also covers checking and confirming that incoming residents set up service in their own name, and following up so any overlapping usage is correctly prorated and billed to the resident.

Utility bills handled and paid by our company on behalf of your property carry a flat $10 per bill bill-pay fee.

For new units under management, utilities must be active for us to inspect and approve the property for leasing. If our team visits and finds them not active as expected, a trip fee of $55 per hour applies for the time spent resolving it.

Office Information

Our office at 750 Cross Pointe Rd STE B, Columbus, OH 43230 is open by appointment only. Please call or email in advance if you would like to visit and we will be happy to schedule a time.

RL Property Management Group, Inc. is a licensed real estate brokerage in the State of Ohio. If you need to make an owner contribution, please make the check out to RL Property Management and mail it to the address below.

Additional Services and Other Fees

Below is the full list of additional services we offer and the fees that apply. Many are optional or situational, so you will only ever be charged for what applies to your property.

Every figure on this page is read from one file, so the handbook, the pricing page and the fee schedule cannot drift apart. See the pricing page for the three plans and what each includes.

Our Core Values

At RL Property Management we understand that owning rental properties can be both rewarding and challenging. That is why our purpose is simple: to help property owners be successful with their real estate investments. The following six core values are not slogans on a wall. They are guiding principles we live by, and they keep us aligned as a team so we can deliver the care, attention and results our clients and residents deserve.

Living our values. Serving our purpose.

Together, these values form the backbone of how we help property owners succeed with their real estate investments. They guide how we approach challenges, make decisions and deliver results, creating an experience that is reliable, thoughtful and tailored to your needs.

Questions About Anything in This Handbook?

Your assigned Property Manager is your first point of contact. For anything else, our team is a call or an email away.

Thank you for selecting RL Property Management. RL Property Management Group, Inc. is a licensed Ohio real estate brokerage.