I am planning to take over property management of my rentals for a while, due to inadequate results from my existing property managers. What do I need to look out for when firing them and transitioning?

examples:

- to make sure you get keys, leases, and deposits back 

- how to tell tenants where to send money 

- how to make sure tenants know/believe you are the new owner

what else?

@Ken Klingler

In addition to what you listed be sure to get an accurate financial accounting for all tenants so you know what each outstanding balance is (if any) and what it is comprised of. 

Deliver some type of transition notice to your tenants telling them "effective xxx date you will be managing their building..." Include where to send rent and a number for maintenance calls. Wording may vary depending on how you are structuring this. Are you hiding behind some type of mgmnt company LLC that you have created or will the tenants just be dealing with "Ken Klinger the landlord"?

I self manage but act as if I were any other management company with a dedicated company name, office, and phone number all separate from my personal stuff. It's much easier for me to operate that way and was not very expensive to set up. 

@Ryan Murdock

In the process now of structuring the management company as an LLC which each rental property will utilize for rents, maintenance, and lawn service(another sub company).

Thanks for the additional notes, sounds like good advice.

Do you have the original agreement that you signed with the PM.  It should address how to sever the relationship. You may need to flex in the transition rather than expect everything to go smoothly.  Hopefully the PM is professional enough to help make it a smooth transition.

Also make sure you didn't agree to a certain time frame for the PM like a year, or 6 months.  That may cause an issue as well.

@Michele Fischer brings up a great point. Circle back to review the original contract to make sure that there are not any cancellation fees. 

Also, make sure to receive an YTD financial statement for your Taxes. I think in your original post everything else is covered.