You want a number before you want a sales pitch. Fair enough.
The Short Answer
In Edmonton, ongoing property management runs 8% to 12% of collected rent per month. Some firms add a monthly minimum of around $150, which only bites on lower-rent units — on a $1,100 suite, that minimum is closer to 14% than 10%.
That is the honest band. Anyone quoting well under it is usually recovering the difference somewhere else in the agreement, and we will get to where.
One thing to nail down before you sign anything: is the fee charged on collected rent or scheduled rent?
Collected rent means you pay a fee on money that actually landed in the account. Scheduled rent means you pay the fee on what the unit is supposed to produce — including months it sits empty, and including rent a tenant never paid.
Ask the question in those exact words. The answer tells you a lot about how the firm thinks.
The Full Fee Stack, Line by Line
The monthly percentage is one line on an invoice that usually has several. Here is the whole stack as it appears in the Edmonton market in 2026.
Monthly management fee — 8% to 12% of collected rent. Sometimes with a floor around $150/month.
Tenant placement or leasing fee — roughly $795 up to one full month's rent. This covers marketing, showings, screening and lease execution. It is often discounted when bundled with ongoing management. Standalone placement — where you want a tenant found but intend to manage yourself — runs higher, around $1,295 at some firms.
Maintenance coordination markup — 0% to 15% on top of the trade's invoice. Firms with in-house crews often charge nothing here, because the labour is already theirs. Firms that subcontract everything usually add a percentage for arranging the work.
Inspection fees — $50 to $150 each, or included. Move-in, move-out and periodic mid-lease inspections.
Lease renewal fee — $0 to $300 each time a tenant re-signs.
Then the ones that don't always make the headline: vacancy fees (anywhere from $0 up to 50% of one month's rent), technology or admin fees ($0 to $25/month), and setup or onboarding fees when your building first comes under management.
A Worked Example on a Real Edmonton Unit
Take a $1,800/month unit — a common number for a decent two-bedroom in a lot of Edmonton neighbourhoods.
At 10%, ongoing management is $180/month, or about $2,160 a year.
If the unit turns once that year, add a one-time placement fee of around $795.
So a year with a turnover costs roughly $2,955. A year without one costs $2,160.
That is the real number to hold in your head. Not the percentage — the dollars.
Percentage vs Flat Fee
A percentage fee scales with rent. When market rents rise, the manager's fee rises with them, which at least aligns their interest with getting your rent right rather than just filling the unit fast.
A flat fee is predictable, and it favours you on higher-rent units. On a $2,600 executive townhome, 10% is $260/month — a flat arrangement may well come in lower.
The reverse is true at the bottom. On a $1,000 basement suite, a percentage is cheap but a monthly minimum wipes out the advantage entirely.
Rough rule: percentage tends to favour owners of lower-rent doors; flat or capped fees tend to favour owners of higher-rent doors. Run both against your actual rent roll before you decide.
The Fees That Aren't on the First Page
This is the section worth reading twice. The monthly rate is the number firms compete on, so it is the number they compress — and the compression has to go somewhere.
Maintenance markup. A 15% markup is invisible until the furnace goes. On a $4,000 replacement, that is $600 you did not price in. Ask: "Do you mark up trade invoices, and by what percentage? Do you receive any rebate, discount or referral fee from the trades you use?" Both halves matter. A firm can charge 0% markup and still take a discount off the invoice you never see.
Vacancy fees. Some agreements keep charging while the unit is empty — either a flat monthly amount or a fee calculated on scheduled rent. Ask: "If the unit is vacant for two months, what exactly do I pay you during those two months?" Make them answer in dollars.
Renewal fees. Charging up to $300 to send a renewal to a good tenant who is already in place is common and not always unreasonable — but you should know it exists. Ask: "What do I pay when a tenant renews rather than moves out?"
Setup and onboarding fees. Usually one-time, usually disclosed late. Ask: "What do I pay before you have collected a single dollar of rent for me?"
The catch-all. Ask this one last and listen carefully: "List every charge that could appear on my statement in a normal year, and every charge that could appear in a bad year."
A good operator will answer that plainly. If the answer gets vague, that is your information.
What You Should Actually Get for the Money
Fees are only high or low relative to what they buy. At the 8-12% band in Edmonton, the work should include:
Leasing and marketing — listings, photos, showings, and pricing to the actual market rather than to last year's rent.
Tenant screening — credit, employment and previous-landlord verification, applied consistently and within Alberta human rights rules.
Rent collection — including the uncomfortable part, following up on late payment early rather than at day thirty.
Maintenance coordination and after-hours response — someone answers the phone at 11pm when a pipe lets go. This is most of what you are actually buying.
RTA-compliant notices and paperwork — notices served correctly under Alberta's Residential Tenancies Act, with correct timelines. Getting this wrong is expensive in a way that dwarfs the fee.
Inspections — documented, with photos, so a damage claim at move-out holds up.
Statements and year-end reporting — monthly statements you can read and a year-end package your accountant does not have to reconstruct.
When Self-Managing Is the Right Call
Sometimes it is, and you should hear that from a management company.
If you own one or two doors, live close enough to drive over in fifteen minutes, have a plumber and an electrician who answer your calls, and have a long-term tenant who rarely turns — self-managing likely makes sense. You are not paying a fee to solve a problem you don't have.
The same holds for a suite in your own house. You are already on site.
Where the math flips is scale, distance and turnover. Six doors across the city, a full-time job, or a building where units turn regularly — that is when the hours stop being occasional and start being a second job.
What Actually Drives the Math
Here is the arithmetic that matters more than the percentage.
On that $1,800 unit, a single extra vacant month costs you $1,800.
A full year of management at 10% costs $2,160.
So one avoided vacant month covers roughly ten months of management fees. Two avoided vacant months — a slow turnover handled badly, twice — costs more than the entire year of management plus the placement fee.
That is the whole argument, and it does not require anyone to exaggerate. The fee is a known, budgetable number. Vacancy and a bad tenant are not, and they are much larger.
The question is never really "is 10% too much." It is "does this firm fill units faster and screen better than I do."
How GSK Charges
We quote on the building, not off a rate card.
A forty-unit walk-up and a single townhome are different jobs with different maintenance loads, different turnover patterns and different amounts of on-site time. Pricing them off the same percentage would mean one of them is subsidizing the other.
So we look at your doors, your rents, your turnover history and what you actually need managed, and we give you a number with the whole fee stack in writing — including the markup and vacancy answers above.
If you want that number, ask for a quote through our contact page. No obligation, and we will tell you if you are better off managing it yourself.
A note on all the figures here: these are typical Edmonton market ranges for 2026 and they vary by building, unit type and scope of service. Use them to ask better questions, not as a quote.
FAQ: Property Management Fees in Edmonton
How much do property managers charge in Edmonton?
Most Edmonton firms charge 8% to 12% of collected rent monthly for ongoing management. Some apply a monthly minimum of around $150, which effectively raises the rate on lower-rent units. Placement, inspection and renewal fees are usually charged separately on top.
Is a property manager worth it for one rental property?
Often not, if you live nearby, have time, have reliable trades and the unit rarely turns. The economics improve sharply with distance, door count and turnover frequency. On a single stable unit next door, self-managing is a reasonable call.
What is a tenant placement fee?
It is a one-time charge for finding and installing a tenant — marketing, showings, screening and lease signing. In Edmonton it runs from roughly $795 up to one full month's rent, and is often discounted when bundled with ongoing management. Standalone placement without ongoing management runs higher, around $1,295 at some firms.
Do property managers charge when the unit is vacant?
Some do and some don't — it ranges from $0 to as much as 50% of one month's rent. It depends on whether the fee is calculated on collected rent or scheduled rent. Ask that question directly before signing, and ask what you would pay across two vacant months in dollars.
Can I deduct property management fees in Alberta?
Management fees are ordinarily treated as a deductible operating expense against rental income, alongside costs like maintenance and insurance. How that applies to your situation depends on your ownership structure and how the property is used. Confirm the specifics with your accountant — this is general information, not tax advice.
