Resident Handbook

One of the greatest benefits we offer our residents is the Tenant Portal. The Tenant Portal provides you with access to information and services for your rental property 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You will receive an e-mail from  with a link to your portal and login information.  Please check your SPAM/JUNK mail if you do not see it in 24 – 48 hours of signing your lease and give us a call and we would be happy to make sure that you get access. On the Tenant Portal, you can review your account, view charges, pay rent and other bills, request non-emergency maintenance, and communicate with us using the conversations tool.

Contact our office and send email to [email protected], once we verify your information, we will send you an information change request form.

It is important to note the dates on your lease – when your lease begins and when it ends. Your lease only ends when you have completed your contract term, given proper written  60 days notice per the lease agreement, and when you have returned the keys to the Real Property Management Engage office. Review your renewal process to verify your lease anniversary or end date.

There is a final move-out condition evaluation report completed by our team after you vacate to ensure that you left the premises in as good a condition as it was when your lease began and that the home is in rent-ready condition. 

If you plan to vacate the property before the end of your lease, please be aware of the lease expiration date because you are responsible and will be held liable for all rents due until the end of the lease.

Your rent is due on 1st of each month, and late on 4th of each month. 

Call the Real Property Management Engage office immediately if you will not be able to meet this commitment.  Additionally, please review your lease for any repercussions that may result from paying your rent late and the acceptable form of late payment. 

Please note that the security deposit is not intended to cover the last month’s rent. Failure to pay rent and provide a written intent to vacate notice may lead to collection efforts. The security deposit will be refunded in compliance with Texas state law, after deductions for repairs beyond normal wear and tear or any outstanding balances owed to Real Property Management Engage. These deductions will be itemized and subtracted from your deposit prior to any refund. You will receive the remainder of your deposit, if applicable, along with a statement of any withholdings, within 30 days of vacating the property, returning possession to us, and providing a forwarding address.

Your Lease Agreement is a legal, binding document. There are a few instances, however, in which it may be amended if all parties to the contract agree. Contact your Real Property Management Engage office immediately if you want to make any changes to your lease.
Examples include:

• Changes or additions regarding residents
• Changes regarding pets
• A need to terminate your Lease Agreement early or exceed your lease agreement

We understand that each situation is different. However, some changes may be governed by state or local laws, so please discuss your situation or concern with your Real Property Management Engage office.

If you wish to add a resident to your lease, please contact the Real Property Management Engage office to discuss the situation. We must approve any additional resident(s) on the lease as well as to conduct background checks.

There is no exception to this policy. In addition to keeping the residents of Real Property Management Engage safe, our company is bound by local and state regulations, as well as by federal Fair Housing Laws and mandates to maintain a safe, secure environment for our residents.

Your lease will specify if you are or are not allowed to have pets. If you are allowed to have pets in the home, there may be some restrictions as to the type, breed, and size of the animal. Any pets not specified in the Lease Agreement are not allowed on the property. Any future animals need to be approved in writing BEFORE they can reside at the property. If you are authorized to have a Service Animal, however, we will accommodate you under the law. Pets may require additional deposit and/or rent and proof of renters and or pet liability insurance. After move-out, you will be responsible if any fleas are discovered on the property and you did have a pet occupy the home. If you are concerned this may occur, we ask you to contact a Pest Control company to have the property treated before the move-out evaluation.

Your lease will have a provision stating whether or not smoking is permitted on your premises. If smoking is not permitted on the premises, you will be responsible for all costs associated with removing all smoke odor, stains, or discoloration on the property.

There is a fine line between when guests become residents. Your lease will state the maximum length of stay permissible by a guest. Our intent is not to restrict having visitors, but to help us keep track of the number of people who are residing at the property. In many areas, there are limits placed on the number of occupants a property may legally house by applicable fire, safety, and health regulations.

Your responsibilities regarding utilities are written in your lease. In most cases, you will be responsible for all costs associated with putting all utilities in your name before occupying the home. You may be required to put a deposit or connection/set-up fee you will incur to obtain service.  

Water, sewer, and trash services are handled by several different vendors depending on the specific location of the property. If your lease agreement states that you are responsible for Water/Sewer/Trash or any portion of these bills, you may receive the bill through Real Property Management Engage (unless otherwise stated in your lease). If you are unsure of who your service provider is, whether you can hold the account in your name, or if you should be paying Real Property Management Engage for water, sewer, and trash services, please consult your Real Property Management Engage office.

Your lease will specify if you are responsible for yard clean up and landscape maintenance of your property. Regardless of responsibility for landscape maintenance, the resident is responsible to ensure that the yard is free of debris and being watered within the watering guidelines for the municipality. Please report any malfunction of sprinkler systems to Real Property Management Engage. If there are no sprinklers, the resident is responsible to ensure that the landscaping receives sufficient water.

Real Property Management Engage’s goal is that you have a well- maintained and habitable unit that you can safely enjoy for the duration of your lease.

Real Property Management Engage has a Emergency Maintenance Hotline 214-257-0101  that can be reached 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week. All EMERGENCY maintenance should be called into the Hotline. 

Non-emergency work may be requested through your resident portal. E-mails, text messages, voice mails, or notes are not as effective as phone calls unless the law requires otherwise. Phone calls go directly into our maintenance queue for prioritization, approval, and proper scheduling. If the requested maintenance is deemed to be an emergency, we will be paged.

Once a maintenance request is received, Real Property Management Engage prioritizes the request by emergencies having the highest priority. Not everything is an emergency and Real Property Management Engage complies with the law in considering what must be fixed first so that the resident can safely live in the unit. Many laws allow a certain period within which repairs may be made.

What Qualifies as Emergency Maintenance Issue? 

  Leaks that can cause property damage – This includes roofing leaks, lawn/sprinkler leaks, toilet leaks, overflows, sink leaks, and HVAC leaks

   Water issues like –  No water, dirty water, No hot water

   No heat in cold weather – Under 45°F; 55° F if young children, elderly, or sick people are present

   No AC in hot weather – Over 95° F; 85° F if young children, elderly, or sick people are present 

   Security and safety issues – Broken windows or broken/open doors 

    Cars blocked in by the broken gate 

    Electrical outages: (Not caused by the power company) and loss of power to medical equipment 

    No Functioning toilets in the house

   Life-threatening emergencies – Gas leaks, carbon monoxide leaks, and fires are directed to 911

If the maintenance request is not an emergency, Real Property Management Engage coordinates approval and funding with the Owner to ensure that the problem is addressed properly.

Real Property Management Engage often uses contractors who are insured and licensed (when required) to perform maintenance services. All contractors are regularly monitored to ensure that quality and timeliness standards are met or exceeded.

If the maintenance item is found to be due to a resident’s negligence or willful act, the resident(s) will be assessed the bill for repairs/replacement/damages.

Real Property Management Engage conducts three (3) types of evaluations. These evaluations are not meant to discover all maintenance issues, nor are they meant to be an invasion of privacy. Instead, these evaluations are designed to ensure that the unit is in good condition and to address concerns that you may have. You can expect advance notification of the timing of any evaluation per the law. These property evaluations include:

Initial Evaluation

Real Property Management Engage will provide you with a condition report for your property. You should conduct your own evaluation when you move into the premises to make sure that the condition of the unit is reported accurately. You have 3 days to amend the condition report provided by Real Property Management Engage. As your Lease Agreement states, you accept the condition of the house “as is.” The results of your evaluation will be used at the end of your lease term to help determine any responsibility that should be covered by your security deposit. Real Property Management Engage may rely on photographs and or video documentation of the condition when determining security deposit responsibility. If the video is available, it may be purchased from Real Property Management Engage.

Periodic Evaluations

Periodic evaluations are conducted to ensure several things, such as determining that the basic systems in your home are in good working order. Periodic evaluation is a wonderful opportunity for you to identify any maintenance concerns you may have. Please realize that maintaining the quality of your unit is one of our obligations to the Owner of the home. Most often periodic evaluations will be conducted by maintenance personnel looking for drips, leaks, malfunctions, etc. Usually, evaluations are completed within 30 minutes, but the actual time may vary depending on the condition of the unit. 

Please be assured that you will be notified in advance of any periodic evaluation under the law. Real Property Management Engage may take pictures to document the condition of the premises.

Final Evaluation

This evaluation is performed after you have moved out of the premises. It will be quite in-depth. As discussed here and in your Lease Agreement, the premises are expected to be cleaned to the level required in your Lease, and any damage(s) should be repaired to the satisfaction of Real Property Management Engage. If the unit requires extensive cleaning or repairs, you may have the costs of that effort deducted from your security deposit. If you would like to be referred to an approved cleaning service or carpet cleaning service, the Real Property Management Engage office will be happy to provide you the contact information.

Your Real Property Management Engage office has been hired by the Property Owner to make sure that his or her property is rented and maintained. Part of the Owner’s expectation is that all applicable rules, agreements, and laws are followed. The typical process that your Real Property Management Engage office will take if it appears that you have violated a condition of the lease or a local ordinance is as follows:

1. We will attempt to contact you to confirm that a situation or violation exists.
2. If the situation or violation is confirmed, the office will at a minimum make a note of it in the property records. The office will confirm your conversation in writing.
3. If the matter is a major incident, the office may have no choice but to follow the legal process as appropriate in accordance with the law or other regulations.

If you are renting a property in a deed-restricted or CIC governed community, you are required to abide by the Covenants, Conditions, & Restrictions (CC&Rs) and Rules and Regulations (R&Rs).  

• Understand what you can and cannot do within the CC&Rs along with your lease agreement
• Review the CC&Rs and (R&Rs) and know if a violation occurs what are the possible repercussions and or fines
• CIC governed communities rules and regulations can be strictly enforced 

Your Real Property Management Engage Office is a part of a franchise system but is locally and independently owned and operated. We are a service-oriented business. We want your occupancy to be as enjoyable as possible, but we understand that sometimes complaints (or compliments) are inevitable. Please allow us to address any issues before making formal complaints. We prefer to go the extra mile to solve any problem than to have you upset or go away angry in any way. While complaints are never fun to receive; we honestly believe that hearing them is the only way we can accept responsibility, resolve the situation, and work to make the systemic changes to prevent a reoccurrence. Likewise, we sincerely appreciate it when you recognize that a Real Property Management Engage employee has gone the extra mile for you. Please feel free to notify us of what we did right for you.

Please call or email your Real Property Management Engage office with any concerns. Your feedback is used to improve our communications and processes. If your concern is a complaint, here is how we will resolve it:

1. We will do our best to clearly understand the situation from your perspective.
2. We may need some time to look into the issue and we’ll commit to responding with a status update within a reasonable amount of time.
3. When we respond, we’ll either resolve the issue to your satisfaction, ask what you’d like us to do to resolve the issue, or provide options as to how the issue can be resolved.
4. We’ll then do our best to resolve the situation promptly.

We resolve the majority of complaints this way. Be assured that we are committed to working honestly and reasonably with you to achieve our mutual goal of providing a great resident experience.

Please feel free to contact our office should you have any questions or concerns. Again, we look forward to assisting you to make your tenancy enjoyable.

When terminating or fulfilling your lease, there are a few requirements:

1. Notify your Real Property Management Engage office in writing 30-60 days in advance if you do not intend to renew your lease. Following the Owner’s instructions, we will be working on leasing your property to a new resident if you have not confirmed your intent to renew your lease. We appreciate your cooperation in leasing the property and providing reasonable access for showings.
2. Your Security Deposit IS NOT LAST MONTH RENT. All sums are due and payable under the terms of your rental lease agreement. Failure to pay rent or other amounts due on time may result in late fees, service of the legal notice, and other penalties.
3. The unit should be cleaned as required by your Lease Agreement and all damage must be adequately repaired. This includes professional carpet cleaning. A professional business receipt for professional carpet cleaning must be provided to Real Property Management Engage at the time that you turn in your keys and the service provider must agree to warranty work performed.
4. Move out is at 11:00 A.M. on the day your lease terminates.
5. Keys must be returned to the Real Property Management Engage office by 5 pm on the day of move-out.
6. Any outstanding monies owed must be settled immediately or collection fees may be assessed.
7. Verify all utilities are on the day of move-out in order for Real Property Management Engage to complete a thorough move-out evaluation. If the move-out evaluation cannot be completed due to utilities being turned off, you may incur expenses for reconnection and trip charges to complete the move-out evaluation.
8. If you leave and damages exceed your security deposit, you will be responsible for those additional costs/damages. 

Real Property Management Engage actively supports and complies with the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or intention to make such preference, limitation or discrimination.”

All renters are hereby informed that all property rental offers are available on an equal opportunity basis.