In a property management agreement, what is the property manager's basic fiduciary obligation to the owner?

A property manager acts as the owner's agent and owes the owner fiduciary duties, including loyalty, accounting, disclosure, and reasonable care. The manager's core responsibilities typically include marketing the property and screening and selecting qualified tenants, collecting rents and security deposits and accounting for them accurately (often through a trust account), arranging maintenance and repairs, handling tenant relations within the law, and reporting to the owner. The management agreement defines the scope of authority and the management fee. Brokers frequently oversee property management, so the broker exam tests the manager's duties, trust-fund handling for rents and deposits, and compliance with fair-housing and landlord-tenant law.