Put owner and manager terms in writing for short stay properties

Problems often come from the gap between what the owner thinks the manager will handle and what the agreement actually says. In short stay arrangements, that can include booking management, guest communications, cleaning coordination, maintenance approvals, fee deductions, cancellation handling and use of owner or guest information. If those points are left vague, disputes can arise about authority, reimbursements or responsibility when something goes wrong. The legal drafting should follow your actual information-handling process, rather than relying on generic privacy wording, not just the label on the agreement.

A short stay management agreement will usually set out the manager's appointment, the services included, authority limits, booking and guest-related responsibilities, fee structure, expense recovery, payment handling, reporting expectations, privacy and confidentiality, contractor involvement, liability allocation, termination rights and handover steps at the end of the relationship. Some agreements also need more detailed wording on platform use, owner instructions, emergency decisions and property access. The exact clauses depend on how much control the manager has and which tasks remain with the owner.

Important details include whether you manage listings only or also coordinate guest stays, cleaning and maintenance, how owner approvals are given, what fees are charged, whether you hold or pass through payments, and what information is shared with third parties. It can also matter whether you use booking platforms, contractors or software tools as part of the service. The contract should reflect the practical arrangement, not just a generic precedent or one-sided checklist, so those practical details shape which clauses need to be stronger or more specific.

Often not. A standard long-term property management form may not deal well with guest turnover, platform bookings, cancellation issues, rapid maintenance decisions or the way short stay operators handle owner and guest information. Even where a template looks close, it may not reflect how fees are deducted, who approves refunds, or what happens when a property is unavailable or a guest causes damage. Tailored drafting We will make the key issues clear so you can decide what to do next. if the underlying practices are inconsistent or unclear.

That depends on whether you need a fresh agreement or a review of an existing draft, and how detailed your operating model is. A straightforward owner-manager arrangement is usually quicker than a setup involving multiple properties, layered authority limits or more complex payment flows. Once we have the relevant details, we prepare the agreement and work through any amendments needed to finalise it. If there are unusual features, such as platform-specific processes or detailed privacy issues, we can outline the likely timing at the start.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Short Stay Management Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.