About the Responsible Property Management Standards (RPMS)

The Responsible Property Management Standards (RPMS), consistent with fiduciary duty, support fair practices for residents living in properties owned or funded by asset managers. The standards are designed to:

•  Reduce housing instability for tenants.

• Help manage investment risks and attain targeted financial returns for the benefit of residents, investors, plan participants, and beneficiaries.

The seven core Principles include:

1. Implement consistent and fair tenant screening and selection practices.

2. Offer clear and fair leases; reduce undue burdens of security deposits.

3. Maintain safe, quality, accessible housing.

4. Foster positive tenant-landlord relations.

5. Honor tenants’ rights to free speech and free association.

6. Optimize tenant stability.

7. Minimize evictions and other negative exits.

Each Principle is associated with one or more Standard Practices: a norm or common approach, policy, procedure and/or process designed to produce a consistent desired outcome. Standard Practices represent the minimum expectations.

Beyond the Standard Practices, the Principles are supported by several Best Practices, which are experience and/- or evidence-based approaches intended to provide a road map for asset managers seeking to further elevate property management quality over time.

Finally, the principles and practices are accompanied by a set of public Disclosures. The Disclosures are designed to increase market transparency and enable prospective tenants to make more informed choices. The Disclosures are intended to be public and are in addition to any disclosures that might be provided in the normal course of investor due diligence.

Click below to download the Fact Sheet

Property management practice in residential rental real estate varies considerably and is complicated by an inconsistent patchwork of state and local landlord tenant laws. The absence of robust standards exposes investors to a variety of risks, including but not limited to:

• Higher capital and operating costs associated with low resident satisfaction

• Higher turnover rates

• Difficulties retaining management employees

• A growing array of regulatory and reputational challenges

Together, the Office of the New York City Comptroller and For the Long Term (FTLT) – a nonprofit organization that supports public fiscal officers and fiduciaries in advancing the long-term well-being of public pension fund beneficiaries – collaborated on the development of standards that would provide assurance to investors and protect residents.

In crafting RPMS, the Comptroller’s office staff and consultants retained by FTLT reviewed existing state and local laws and academic research and, more

importantly, consulted with a wide array of stakeholders including tenants, tenant advocates, housing policy experts, real estate industry experts, asset managers, investment consultants, pension fund trustees, and more.

Managing properties in fair and equitable ways poses material opportunities for investors, including but not limited to:

• Lower long-term investment risk and greater returns through resident stability

• Preserved and enhanced property values, including for surrounding properties

• The tools to navigate and remain profitable amid new regulatory environments

• Reduced reputational risk

Providers of institutional capital should establish incentives for adoption of tenant protection standards.

Municipal financial leaders (comptrollers, etc.) should also explore adopting RPMS – or a similar framework – in their respective regions.

Together, we have an opportunity to raise the bar for the management and operation of residential rental real estate in a way that helps foster greater housing stability and supports financial returns.

Click below to Contact Us.