Tenant Placement vs Full Property Management: What Each Covers and What Each Costs

Tenant placement and full property management overlap for roughly the first month of a tenancy, then they diverge completely. Placement buys you a priced, marketed, screened tenancy on a signed Ontario Standard Form of Lease, ending the day the tenant moves in. Full management buys everything after that day: collection, repairs, renewals, emergencies, and the Landlord and Tenant Board if it comes to that. The fee gap looks small on a rate card. At $2,300 a month in rent, placement costs $2,300 once, while Essential management costs $1,932 a year. The real question is whose hours, and whose mistakes, the work in between produces.

This guide sets the two services side by side, task by task, and the comparison runs on RentSetGo Property Management’s own published fees. Where management has tiers, it says which tier carries the task, because “full management” at the wrong tier can leave you holding the same work you thought you had handed off.

Placement fills the unit. Management runs the tenancy. The cheaper fee is the one that matches the work you actually want off your desk.

What does tenant placement actually include?

Placement is the lease-up, done as one engagement. RentSetGo’s tenant placement service starts with a property evaluation and proper photos, then a market analysis that sets the asking rent against comparable Ottawa listings, so the unit is priced to move rather than to sit. The property is marketed on the major rental listing sites, on social media and on our own website, with an Ottawa MLS listing (which puts it on Realtor.ca) available as an option.

Screening follows the Ontario Human Rights Code and checks what a landlord is allowed to check: employment and income verification, background and credit checks, and references from previous landlords. Showings are scheduled and hosted for you. Once a tenant is chosen, the lease is prepared on the Residential Tenancy Agreement (Standard Form of Lease), and the move-in is run properly: a move-in inspection, the unit’s condition documented, first payments collected, and the tenant given utility setup information and emergency contact details.

Then the engagement ends. The tenant has your phone number, not ours. Every task in the next section is yours from move-in day forward.

What does full management add after move-in?

Management is the tenancy itself, month after month. Under full service property management, rent is collected, processed and paid out to you by e-transfer or direct deposit between the 7th and the 10th of each month, with monthly and yearly statements your accountant can work from. If rent does not arrive, the arrears process starts on the correct form and the correct date instead of whenever you get around to it.

The tiers decide how much of the tenant-facing work moves. On Light (5.9%), we handle the money and the owner keeps dealing with the tenant directly. On Essential (7%), tenant contact, maintenance coordination and the 24/7 emergency line move to us, with one documented inspection a year. On Executive (8%), inspections go to two a year and re-leasing at turnover is discounted. Renewals and guideline rent increases (Form N1, on time, at the lawful amount) are handled as part of the tenancy, not rediscovered each year.

What does each option cost?

RentSetGo’s published schedule, confirmed in October 2026, is short. Placement costs one month’s rent plus HST, charged only when a tenant is placed. Management is a percentage of rent actually collected, so a month with no rent collected carries no management fee: Light 5.9%, Essential 7%, Executive 8%, plus HST, with a one-time $200 setup fee on Light and Essential, waived on Executive. The full schedule, including what each tier includes, is set out in our Ottawa property management cost guide, which works through how to compare managers on total annual cost rather than the headline percentage.

Put together for a unit that starts vacant: the first year costs $2,300 with placement only, $4,128 on Light, $4,432 on Essential and $4,508 on Executive, all plus HST. In a later year with the same tenant in place, placement only costs nothing and the tiers cost the annual figures above. Turnover changes the math again: the placement-only owner pays a fresh $2,300 at every lease-up, while an Executive owner pays $1,725 to re-lease. Owners with frequent turnover close the fee gap faster than they expect.

Who should choose which?

First-time or accidental landlord, local, one unit. Placement only is a defensible choice if you live nearby, answer your phone, and will learn the handful of forms the tenancy runs on. Add Light if the only part you distrust is your own bookkeeping: the money gets collected, processed and reported properly while you keep the tenant relationship.

Out-of-town, out-of-province or non-resident owner. Placement only leaves every physical task with someone who is not there. A leaking shut-off valve or a lockout at midnight becomes a long-distance problem with no one on call. Essential or Executive is the tier built for you, and the second inspection on Executive matters when you cannot walk through the unit yourself.

Small multi-unit or multi-door investor. Your constraint is hours, not knowledge. Ten tenancies produce ten of everything: ten deposits earning interest you owe, ten increase dates, ten renewal conversations. Management at a percentage of collected rent scales with the portfolio instead of with your evenings.

Owner who genuinely likes the tenant-facing work. Some landlords do, and they are often good at it. If that is you, placement plus your own management is a rational split: buy the lease-up, keep the relationship. The section below is written for everyone else.

What goes wrong when placement-only landlords self-manage the rest badly?

The failures are rarely dramatic. They are missed dates and duties that sit in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 whether you have read it or not.

Arrears, handled late. When rent stops, the process is a sequence with deadlines: a Form N4 first (the notice period dropped to 7 days for notices given on or after September 21, 2026), then a Form L1 if the money does not come. Our N4 to LTB timeline guide walks the sequence. A landlord who waits a hopeful month before serving anything has added that month to the file, and a defective notice restarts the clock entirely. This is the single most expensive self-management mistake we see.

Maintenance, handled slowly. Section 20 of the Act makes the landlord responsible for keeping the unit in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, and vital services cannot be withheld. A repair you treat as a when-I-get-to-it item can become a tenant application, a rent abatement and a maintenance order. Entry has its own rules: most entries need 24 hours’ written notice under section 27, emergencies excepted. Turning up unannounced because you own the place is a breach, not a perk.

Rent increases, handled casually. For most units the increase is capped at the provincial guideline (2.1% for 2026, 1.9% for 2027), allowed once in any 12 months, and only on a Form N1 given at least 90 days ahead. An increase taken the wrong way is not just unenforceable; it can undermine an arrears file built on the wrong rent amount. A manager’s calendar catches this automatically. A placement-only landlord has to build that calendar themselves.

When is placement only the right call?

More often than management companies admit. If you live in Ottawa, hold one or two units in good repair, have trades you can call, and will actually serve the forms on the days the Act requires, self-managing after a professional lease-up is a reasonable way to run a rental. The tenancy of a settled, paying tenant is quiet for long stretches, and paying 7% of collected rent to watch a quiet tenancy is hard to justify on the numbers alone.

The honest test is not the quiet months. It is the worst month: a tenant two payments behind, a furnace out in January, and a form due at the Board, all while you are travelling or in meetings. If that month would run on time anyway, placement only is your cheaper fee and you should take it. Our earlier piece on whether to hire a property manager at all works through the same question from the landlord’s side, before services enter it.

What this guide can’t tell you

It cannot price your own time, which is the real variable in this comparison. An hour a month of your attention makes placement only the clear winner; ten hours and a Board appearance reverse it, and only you know which landlord you are. It also cannot read your tenancy: a unit with a long-settled tenant and a new build under Tarion warranty present very different workloads in year one. The fees quoted are RentSetGo’s published schedule as of October 2026 and can change; your signed agreement, not this article, sets what you pay. Owners comparing several managers should compare total annual cost at their own rent, including setup, placement and re-leasing, the way our cost guide does.

The Bottom Line

Choose placement when you want a professional lease-up and are prepared, in time and temperament, to run the tenancy that follows. Choose management when any part of collection, maintenance or the Board process would otherwise wait for you to get to it, because in Ontario that work runs on statutory deadlines whether it is delegated or not. And choose the tier by the task list, not the percentage: Light if only the money needs handling, Essential if the tenant contact should move, Executive if you are away for long stretches and turnover is likely. The wrong tier is the one that leaves your least favourite task still on your desk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a tenant placement service do that I keep after it ends?

Placement covers the lease-up only: pricing the rent, photos and marketing, screening and showings, the lease on the Ontario Standard Form of Lease, and a documented move-in. It ends at move-in. Collection, repairs, renewals and any Board process after that belong to whoever manages the tenancy, which in a placement-only arrangement is you.

How much does placement cost compared with management in the first year?

At a rent of $2,300 a month, starting from a vacant unit: placement only costs $2,300 once. Management costs $4,128 in the first year on Light (5.9%), $4,432 on Essential (7%) and $4,508 on Executive (8%), each including the placement and, on Light and Essential, the $200 setup fee. All figures are plus HST. In later years with the same tenant, placement only costs nothing and management costs $1,628 to $2,208 a year at that rent.

If I hire placement only, who deals with a tenant who stops paying rent?

You do. Serving the Form N4, filing the Form L1 and attending the Landlord and Tenant Board are the landlord’s job under a placement-only arrangement, or a paralegal’s if you hire one for the file. Under full management, the arrears process is part of the service and starts on the correct date with the correct form.

Can I hire placement now and switch to full management later?

Yes. Many RentSetGo owners start with placement, self-manage while the tenancy is quiet, and add management when their time, travel or portfolio changes. The management tiers can start mid-tenancy; you are not locked into the choice you made at lease-up.

Who coordinates repairs under each option?

Under placement only, you do: finding trades, scheduling access with proper notice, and paying the invoices. Under full management on Essential and Executive, coordination and the 24/7 emergency line are ours; the cost of the repair work itself remains the owner’s, as it is for any landlord. On Light, tenant contact stays with you, so repairs stay with you too.

Which option suits a landlord with a single Ottawa condo?

It depends on distance and time more than on the unit. A local owner with a reliable tenant and a free evening now and then can run a single condo well on placement only. An owner who travels, lives outside Ottawa, or simply will not track increase dates and deposit interest should put the condo on Essential and be done with it.

Related Reading

• Tenant placement service in Ottawa
• Full service property management in Ottawa
• Should you hire a property manager?
• How much does property management cost in Ottawa?
• Tenant not paying rent in Ontario: the N4 to LTB timeline
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (e-Laws)
• Landlord and Tenant Board (Tribunals Ontario)

This article is general information for Ottawa landlords, not legal advice. Fees are RentSetGo Property Management’s published schedule as of October 2026 (management Light 5.9%, Essential 7% and Executive 8% of rent collected, plus HST; $200 setup on Light and Essential, waived on Executive; tenant placement one month’s rent plus HST, charged only when a tenant is placed) and can change; your signed agreement governs. The $2,300 monthly rent in the examples is an illustration, not a market figure. Residential Tenancies Act references are to the Act as amended effective September 21, 2026. For a contested tenancy or a Board filing, consult a licensed paralegal or lawyer.