How to Fire Your Property Manager in Alaska

A step-by-step guide for Alaska landlords switching property managers, covering the management contract, broker trust accounts under 12 AAC 64, tenant deposits and what to collect before you cut ties.

Last updated September 23, 2026

Statements that never reconcile, a deposit nobody can point to, a furnace call in February that sat for a week. Most Alaska landlords wait a season too long.

Alaska gives you leverage on the way out, mostly through the Real Estate Commission's trust account rules. Your manager is a licensed broker holding your money in a regulated account, and the rules on that account are specific.

Here is how to make the switch without losing a deposit, a tenant or a month of rent.

Step 1. Read the management agreement

Your manager could not take the job without a written contract. Alaska requires a prior written property management contract spelling out the duties, the powers you granted, how long it runs and the fees (12 AAC 64.550). An exclusive management contract needs a definite expiration date, and it can be renewed or extended only by a written agreement you sign (AS 08.88.341).

Look for four things.

Notice period. Thirty days' written notice is common.
Termination fee. Some charge one, some don't.
Leasing fee clawbacks. Check what you owe for tenants the manager placed.
Any automatic renewal clause. Alaska says exclusive contracts can't renew themselves without your signature, so a rollover clause deserves a hard look.

Step 2. Send written notice

Put it in writing, by email and by whatever method the contract names. State the end date, ask for a complete handover by that date, and list what you expect back.

Keep the tone flat. You want your ledger and your deposits, not an argument.

Step 3. Know the trust account rules

Your manager's broker has to keep client money, including security deposits, in a separate trust account and give you an accounting on request (AS 08.88.351). Money has to reach that account within five days of receipt, with narrow exceptions for weather and geography (12 AAC 64.200). The broker can't mix trust money with the firm's own funds or pay firm bills out of it (12 AAC 64.250).

Where a property management contract is involved, landlord funds and tenant funds get separate ledgers and separate transaction codes, and the broker reconciles the bank statement, the deposits and expenditures, and the sum of the ledgers every month (12 AAC 64.220). Ask for those reconciliations.

The lever that matters most on the way out is 12 AAC 64.130(3). Failing to account for, remit or surrender money, documents or other property of value, or unreasonably delaying it, is grounds for suspension or revocation of the license. Alaska sets no fixed number of days for that handover, so the standard is what a regulator reads as reasonable. Put a date in your notice and hold to it.

If the money or the records don't come, file a complaint with the Alaska Real Estate Commission through the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing.

Step 4. Collect everything

Ask for all of this before the end date.

Security deposits and prepaid rent for every tenant, with the amount held for each one, and pet deposits listed separately
The trust account ledger for your properties, with the monthly reconciliations
Signed leases, renewals and addenda
Move-in condition statements and any contents inventory the tenants signed
Tenant contact details and payment history
Open work orders, vendor contacts, invoices and equipment warranties
Keys, fobs, mail keys and door codes
Year-to-date income and expense reports for your taxes

Alaska brokers keep transaction records for three years, running from the start of the transaction through three years after the management contract ends (AS 08.88.351). Ask for copies anyway. Waiting on a former manager's filing cabinet is not a plan.

Step 5. Move the security deposits

Once the deposits are back, they need a proper home. Alaska requires deposits and prepaid rent to sit in a trust account at a bank, a savings and loan, or a licensed escrow agent, with no commingling and no using one tenant's deposit for another tenant's debts (AS 34.03.070(c)). That rule binds you as an individual owner, not just licensed firms.

Check the balances against the leases before you accept them. The cap is two months' periodic rent, with a pet deposit of up to one more month held separately for pet damage (AS 34.03.070(a), (h)). The cap doesn't apply where rent runs above $2,000 a month.

From the day you take over, the move-out clock is yours. Fourteen days to mail the itemised statement and the refund when the tenant gave proper notice of termination, 30 days when they didn't, with up to double the amount withheld on the line if you get it wrong on purpose (AS 34.03.070(b), (d), (g)).

One more point worth knowing. A licensed manager who fails to put prepaid rent or deposits into a trust account as AS 34.03 requires is committing dishonest conduct under the license rules (12 AAC 64.560). If your deposits were never trust-accounted, say so in the complaint.

Step 6. Tell your tenants

This step is a legal duty in Alaska, not a courtesy. You have to give tenants the name and address of the person authorized to manage the premises and of the owner or the person who accepts service of process and notices, and keep that current (AS 34.03.080). A successor manager or owner picks up the same duty.

Send one dated message covering where rent goes, who to call for repairs, where the deposit now sits, and the day the change takes effect.

Step 7. Take over the day to day

Line up a plumber, a heating tech and a snow contractor before you need them. Set up rent collection. Get a maintenance line that answers at night. This is where most owners end up hiring the next manager they'll fire.

Who can manage property for pay in Alaska

Collecting rent, leasing a unit or performing property management for another person, for a fee, takes a real estate broker, associate broker or salesperson license (AS 08.88.161). Property management is defined to cover marketing, leasing, contracting for maintenance and overall management of real property for another for compensation (AS 08.88.990).

The exceptions sit in AS 08.88.900. An owner handling their own property needs no license. A natural person managing four or fewer residential units for other people is exempt. So are resident managers, fiduciaries like trustees and executors, clerical staff, and a person who takes only reimbursement of expenses rather than a fee.

Read that four-unit exemption carefully before you hand your keys to a friend with a few doors. Check any new firm's license on the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing site first.

Your switching checklist

Read the contract for notice, fees, clawbacks and the expiration date
Send written notice with a firm handover date
Demand the trust ledger and the monthly reconciliations
Collect deposits, leases, condition statements, work orders and keys
Move deposits into a trust account that holds nothing else
Send tenants the AS 34.03.080 disclosure with the new contact details
File with the Real Estate Commission if money or records are held back

Switch to Taz

Taz is an AI property manager built for owners who have been let down before. It answers tenants day and night, routes repairs to your vendors, sends rent reminders and keeps every document in one place, for a flat monthly price per door instead of a cut of your rent. See how Taz works.

Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your management agreement and your specific facts matter. Talk to an Alaska attorney before ending a contract. Last checked September 2026.