What a Tbilisi property manager actually does
There are two different jobs hiding under one label here, and firms rarely make the distinction for you.
Long-term management is landlord work. Finding a tenant, checking they can pay, drafting a lease, collecting rent every month, arranging repairs and sending you a statement. It is low intensity and priced accordingly.
Short-term or Airbnb management is a hospitality operation. Listing optimisation, dynamic pricing, guest messaging at 2am, key handover, laundry, cleaning between every stay, restocking consumables and repairing the damage a guest did last Saturday. It costs two to three times as much because it is genuinely two to three times the work.
Firms that do both, like Wehost and PB Services, will move a unit between the two models when the market shifts. Specialists like Gingerbread Haus or Property Host go deeper on hosting but will not be the right home for a quiet long-let in Saburtalo.
What it costs
Long-term management in Tbilisi generally lands around 7 to 12 percent of collected rent. Short-let management commonly runs 15 to 25 percent of revenue, with 20 to 25 percent the most frequently quoted band. Those are ranges observed across the market, not quotes, and almost every firm here prices per property.
Budget separately for:
- A letting fee when a new tenant is signed, often a share of one month's rent
- Cleaning and linen on short lets, sometimes billed to the guest, sometimes to you
- Repairs and consumables, deducted from your monthly statement
- Building association fees and utilities, which are yours regardless
How to choose
Ask three questions and the field narrows fast.
How many properties do you manage right now? A firm running 50 to 60 units has systems. A firm running six has a person, and that person takes holidays.
What is your fee, in writing, including the letting fee? Most Tbilisi firms will not publish a percentage online. That is normal. Refusing to state it in an email is not.
On what date do I get paid, and from which account? Monthly payout on a fixed date from a company account is the standard you want. Anything vaguer means your rent is sitting in someone's personal balance.
Red flags
- No written notice period, or a lock-in longer than twelve months
- Unlimited authority to approve repairs without asking you
- Vague answers about whether they hold a deposit and where
- A manager who also wants to sell you the flat, without disclosing both fees
- No Georgian legal entity, only a personal name and a phone number
When you should not pay for this
If you live in Tbilisi, own one apartment, and have a tenant who has been in place two years, a manager is a tax on your own laziness. The same is true of a brand new build with a corporate tenant on a three-year lease.
Pay for management when you are outside Georgia, when you own more than two units, or when you are letting nightly. In those three cases the commission usually costs less than the vacancy, the fines and the emergency plumber it prevents.
