Comparison

ProperLease vs hiring a property manager

A manager is commonly paid a percentage of every rent cheque, for the life of the tenancy. Software is a fixed cost. The real question is not price, it is which parts of the job you actually want back.

Start free with one property One property free, forever. Cancel whenever you like.
0%of your rent taken as a management fee
48provinces and states whose lease document ProperLease fills or generates
1flat price for the whole portfolio, regardless of what you collect

Property management is usually charged as a percentage of collected rent, with a separate fee when a new tenant is placed. That is a sensible model for the manager and it means the cost grows with your portfolio and with every rent increase. Get a quote locally, because the terms vary widely by market.

Software does not replace a manager. It replaces the paperwork half of what a manager does: the lease, the ledger, the notices, the deposit accounting, the year-end numbers. What it cannot do is meet a contractor at the unit, show the apartment on a Saturday, or answer the phone when a pipe goes at 3am.

So the honest framing is not software versus manager. It is whether the parts you want delegated are the paperwork parts or the physical parts.

Where ProperLease wins

The honest case for choosing ProperLease over a property manager.

The cost does not grow with your rent roll

A percentage fee rises every time you raise rent or buy a door. Premium is $14.99 CAD a month or $99 CAD a year for the whole portfolio, with one property free, forever, and stays there.

You keep the relationship with your tenants

Owners who self-manage usually report fewer surprises, because they hear about the leak from the tenant rather than from a monthly statement. Good tenants also tend to stay longer with a landlord they can actually reach.

You keep the records, permanently

When a management agreement ends, the handover of tenancy history is often partial at best. Records kept in your own account stay in your own account, including the ledger, the deposits held, and every notice served.

The paperwork is genuinely handled

The lease document for your province or state, late rent flagged before you notice, deposits tracked as money you owe back, and a year-end report shaped to the T776 or Schedule E. That is most of the administrative work, done.

Where a property manager is the better choice

A comparison you can trust has to be able to say this part out loud. Here is where they genuinely win.

Distance, and the 3am call

If the property is hours away or in another country, someone has to be able to get there. A manager carries the emergency phone, holds a set of keys, and has a plumber who answers. No software does any of that.

Leasing, showings and screening

Advertising a unit, running showings on weekends, screening applicants and checking references is real, skilled work. A good manager does it faster than you will and has seen more bad applications than you have.

A difficult tenancy, and the local knowledge to end it

An eviction is a procedural business with deadlines that vary by jurisdiction, and getting a step wrong can restart the clock. An experienced local manager who has run the process before is worth the fee outright in that situation.

Side by side

ProperLease against a property manager, feature by feature.

 ProperLeasea property manager
Leases and documents
Province and state lease documentsFills the official government form in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Generates a residential lease carrying the required disclosures in 45 US states.Handled for you, on the manager's own paper and process. You sign off rather than fill it in.
Late rent and eviction noticesPlain-English notice templates filled from the tenancy record, emailed, and logged with the date they went out. They are our own wording, not the tribunal's official form.Handled for you, which is one of the strongest arguments for hiring one.
Move-in and move-out condition reportsBuilt in, photo backed, attached to the tenancy so move-out compares against move-in.Usually carried out at move-in and move-out as part of the service.
Rent and money
Dated rent ledger per tenantEvery payment is a permanent dated entry. Nothing is overwritten, so the history survives.Kept by the manager. You see it through a monthly statement rather than directly.
Late rent surfaced without you lookingExpected rent is compared to what arrived. Anything short or missing is flagged on the dashboard and in your inbox.Chased for you. You typically hear about it after the fact.
Deposits tracked as money you owe backHeld separately from rent, so the balance you owe at move-out is never guesswork.Held and accounted for by the manager, often in a trust account.
Expenses tracked per propertyCategorised per property and unit, with receipts attached, as you spend rather than in April.Managed and reported, usually net of the fee and of any works commissioned.
Tax and reporting
Year-end reports built for the T776 and Schedule EOne export per property, with the categories already lined up to the form your accountant is filling in.An annual statement, which your accountant then maps to the T776 or Schedule E.
Real cashflow per propertyRent in, expenses out, per door, so you can see which property is actually earning.Visible, but as reported to you rather than as something you can interrogate per door.
Dated record of what you sentEvery notice and reminder ProperLease sends is logged with the recipient, the date and the time. A resend adds an entry rather than replacing one.Kept by the manager. Whether it comes with you when the agreement ends is worth checking before you sign.
Cost and effort
How it is pricedone property free, forever. Premium is $14.99 CAD a month or $99 CAD a year for the whole portfolio. No per-door charge, no per-document fee.Commonly a percentage of collected rent, usually plus a tenant placement fee. Terms vary by market, so get a local quote.
Time to get runningAn evening. Add a property, add a tenant, import your payment history from CSV.An agreement, a handover, and a period where the manager learns the building.

This comparison reflects publicly available information as of September 21, 2026, plus our own reading of how these approaches work in practice. Products and prices change, and we do not publish other vendors' prices here. Check the vendor's own site before you decide. If you think something on this page is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

Frequently asked questions

Can software really replace a property manager?

Not entirely, and we will not claim it does. It replaces the administrative half: leases, the rent ledger, notices, deposits and tax records. It does not show apartments, meet contractors, or answer emergencies. If those are the parts you want gone, hire a manager.

How much does a property manager cost?

Management is commonly charged as a percentage of collected rent, usually with a separate fee when a new tenant is placed, and sometimes with charges for renewals or for supervising repairs. Rates vary a great deal by city and by portfolio, so get a written quote locally rather than trusting any published figure.

Can I use both?

Yes, and some owners do. Keep a manager for the units that are far away or difficult, self-manage the ones nearby, and run your own records across all of them so you can see the whole portfolio in one place rather than in a stack of statements.

What is the hardest part of self-managing?

Most owners say it is the two extremes: the quiet months where you forget to record anything, and the difficult tenancy where procedure suddenly matters. Software fixes the first properly and helps with the second by keeping dated records. It does not make a hard tenancy easy.

What does ProperLease cost?

One property free, forever, then Premium at $14.99 CAD a month or $99 CAD a year for the entire portfolio. It does not take a share of your rent, so the cost stays flat as the rent roll grows.

ProperLease for out of state landlordsHow to handle late rentServing a late rent or eviction noticeLease documents by province and state

Run your rentals with absolute clarity

ProperLease helps self-managing landlords in Canada and the US track rent, generate provincial and state leases, serve notices, and stay tax ready.