Why fee configuration matters
Management fee configuration is the process of defining how a property management company charges owners for its services — including the fee types, calculation methods, and assignment rules that determine what appears on each owner statement. For most property managers, fees are the business. They are how you get paid.
Yet the majority of property management platforms either hardcode a single fee structure or leave you to track fees in spreadsheets. Neither approach scales. When you manage 5 owners with identical fee agreements, a spreadsheet works. When you manage 50 owners across different markets, each with negotiated rates, it becomes a liability.
Hyrea takes a different approach. Instead of locking you into a rigid model, it gives you a three-step system: define your fee types, bundle them into templates, and assign those templates to owners. Fees then calculate automatically on every owner statement.
The goal is simple: configure your fees once, and let the system handle the math on every statement going forward.
Step 1: Define your fee types
A fee type is a single fee definition — the building block of your fee structure. It describes what you charge, how you calculate it, and when it applies. Think of fee types as your menu of services.
Navigate to Settings → Management Fees → Fee Types. Here you will see any existing fee types and can create new ones.
What goes into a fee type
Each fee type requires four decisions:
- Name and description — What you call this fee and what it covers. Be specific. "Management Fee" is fine. "Monthly Property Management Fee" is better.
- Calculation type — How the amount is determined: percentage of rent collected, a flat amount, tiered rates based on thresholds, or a per-unit charge.
- Frequency — When this fee is charged: monthly, annually, one-time (like a leasing fee), or per occurrence.
- Applicability — Which property types this fee applies to: all properties, residential only, or specific property types.
Common fee types property managers create
Here are the fee types we see most often across Hyrea accounts:
| Fee Type | Calculation | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Management Fee | 8-12% of rent collected | Monthly |
| Leasing Fee | Flat amount or % of first month rent | One-time (per new lease) |
| Maintenance Markup | 10-15% of maintenance cost | Per occurrence |
| Lease Renewal Fee | Flat amount | One-time (per renewal) |
| Vacancy Fee | Flat monthly amount | Monthly (vacant units only) |
| Annual Inspection Fee | Flat amount per unit | Annual |
You are not limited to these. Hyrea lets you create any fee type that matches your management agreement. If you charge a technology fee, an advertising fee, or a reserve fund contribution — create a fee type for it.
To make things easier, Hyrea seeds your account with 11 ready-made fee type presets when you sign up. These cover the most common charges across residential property management — from management fees and leasing fees to maintenance markups, inspection fees, and even a volume-based tiered rate. You can use them as-is, tweak the names and descriptions to match your terminology, or delete the ones you do not need. Think of them as a head start, not a constraint.
Image courtesy of Carlos Muza via Unsplash
Fee types are currency-agnostic. You define the structure once — the currency is determined when you assign the template to an owner based on their portfolio currency.
Step 2: Build fee templates
A fee template is a named collection of fee types bundled together with default values. Templates are the reusable packages you assign to owners. Instead of configuring 6 individual fees for every new owner, you assign one template.
Navigate to Settings → Management Fees → Templates tab. Click "New Template" to get started.
Creating a template
Give your template a clear name that reflects its purpose. "Standard Residential" or "Premium Full-Service" work well. Then select which fee types to include and set the default value for each one.
For example, your "Standard Residential" template might include:
- Management Fee at 10% of rent collected
- Leasing Fee at one month's rent
- Maintenance Markup at 10% of maintenance cost
Your "Premium Full-Service" template might add an annual inspection fee and a higher management fee rate.
Cloning and customizing
To get you started even faster, Hyrea seeds your account with three ready-made template presets: Standard Residential, Full-Service Premium, and Leasing Only. Each one bundles the most common fee types for that management style with sensible default values. You can use them as-is, rename them, tweak the values, or clone them to create your own variations.
Managing a portfolio where most owners pay 10% but a few negotiated 8%? Clone your standard template, adjust the rate, and you have a new template ready to assign. It saves time and keeps your template library organized.
Setting a default template
Mark one template as your account default. When you onboard new owners, this template is pre-selected — saving you a step during setup. You can always change the assignment later.
Step 3: Assign templates to owners
Template assignment is the act of linking a fee template to a specific owner, making those fees active for all their properties. This is where your configuration becomes operational.
Navigate to the Owners page, open any owner's profile, and click the Fees tab. From here, select a template to assign. The system shows you all fee types included in the template with their default values.
Value overrides
Not every owner pays the same rate. When assigning a template, you can override individual fee values without creating a separate template. If your standard template has a 10% management fee but this owner negotiated 8%, override just that one value. The rest of the template stays intact.
This keeps your template library clean. You do not need a separate template for every minor variation — just override the specific values that differ.
Image courtesy of Luke Chesser via Unsplash
Effective dates
Every assignment requires an effective date. This ensures fee changes do not retroactively affect finalized statements. If you change an owner's fee structure mid-month, the new rates apply from the next statement period.
How fees flow into owner statements
Once a template is assigned, fees calculate automatically on every owner statement without any manual intervention. Here is the flow:
- The monthly statement generation process runs (1st of each month)
- For each owner, the system retrieves the effective template assignment
- Each fee type in the template is calculated against the appropriate basis — rent collected, maintenance costs, or a flat amount
- Fee line items appear on the draft statement alongside income and expense items
- You review the draft, add any manual adjustments, and finalize
The key point: you configure fees once. The system handles the calculation on every subsequent statement. No spreadsheets, no copy-paste errors, no forgotten charges.
Fees are deducted from the owner's distribution automatically. The statement shows gross income, expenses, your management fees, and the net distribution — giving owners full transparency into how their money flows.
Spreadsheets vs Hyrea fee management
To put this in perspective, here is how the two approaches compare:
| Spreadsheet Approach | Hyrea Fee Templates |
|---|---|
| Manually calculate each fee per owner per month | Fees calculate automatically from template assignment |
| Copy formulas across rows (error-prone) | One template, unlimited owners |
| No audit trail for rate changes | Full audit log with who changed what and when |
| Fee changes require updating every row | Update the template — all future statements reflect the change |
| Disconnected from owner statements | Fees appear as line items on statements automatically |
| No revenue reporting by fee type | Fee revenue breakdown by fee type (coming soon) |
The compounding benefit is time. A PM managing 30 owners spends roughly 4-6 hours per month on manual fee calculations and statement adjustments. With templates, that drops to the time it takes to review draft statements — typically under 30 minutes.
Advanced: Property-level overrides and inheritance
Fee inheritance is a cascading system that determines which fee values apply when multiple assignment levels exist. Hyrea supports a full inheritance chain that gives you granular control over fee values at every level.
The inheritance chain works top-down:
- Property-level override — A specific property gets its own fee values, overriding the owner default. Set this from the Property Details → Fees tab.
- Owner-level assignment — The template assigned to the owner applies to all their properties by default. Set this from the Owner Detail → Fees tab.
- Account default — If no assignment exists, the account default template applies automatically.
This is useful for owners with mixed portfolios. For example, an owner with both single-family homes and a small apartment building might pay different management rates for each property type. Assign the standard template at the owner level, then go to the apartment building's Property Details → Fees tab and customize just the management fee percentage. The rest of the fees stay inherited from the owner template.
The Property Fees tab shows a read-only summary of the effective fees by default, with an inheritance indicator telling you where the fees come from. Click "Customize Values" to edit individual fee values inline — no need to pick a different template. Click "Reset to Owner" to remove all property-level overrides and fall back to the owner's template.
On the Owner Fees tab, the Property Fee Summary table shows every property with its fee status — "Not set" means it uses the owner template, "Set" (with a link) means it has property-level overrides. This gives you a single-glance view of the fee landscape across the entire portfolio.
Image courtesy of Breno Assis via Unsplash
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a limit to how many fee types I can create?
No. You can create as many fee types as your management agreements require. Most PMs use between 4 and 8 fee types, but there is no hard limit. Each fee type can be included in multiple templates.
Can I change a template after it has been assigned to owners?
Yes. Updating a template's default values affects future assignments only. Existing assignments retain the values they had at the time of assignment. This protects finalized statements from retroactive changes.
How do fee templates handle multiple currencies?
Fee types are currency-agnostic — you define the structure (percentage, flat amount) without specifying a currency. The currency is determined by the owner's portfolio when the template is assigned. A single "10% Management Fee" type works whether the owner's portfolio is in USD, GBP, AED, or SEK.
What happens if I change an owner's template mid-month?
Template changes require an effective date. The new fee structure applies from the next statement period after the effective date. Statements that have already been finalized or delivered are never affected by fee configuration changes.
Can I use percentage and flat fees in the same template?
Absolutely. A template can include any combination of calculation types. It is common to have a percentage-based management fee alongside flat leasing fees and per-occurrence maintenance markups — all in the same template.
Do fees appear on the owner statement automatically?
Yes. Once a template is assigned, every fee type in that template generates a line item on the owner's monthly statement. The statement shows the fee name, calculation basis, and amount. Owners see exactly what they are being charged and why.
