Can we report a review as fake because the tenant wasn't our actual paying customer?

Not on that basis alone. Google's policies care whether a review reflects a genuine experience with your business, not who paid the fee. A tenant who dealt with your agency throughout a tenancy has a real, reviewable relationship, even though the landlord signed the management agreement.

A former tenant is disputing their bond deduction in a review — how should we reply?

Acknowledge their concern without relitigating the specific amount publicly, and point them toward your state's formal bond dispute process — the relevant residential tenancy authority or tribunal. That's a stronger, more credible reply than arguing the figure in the comment thread.

Should we be asking tenants for reviews, or just landlords?

Consider asking both. Landlords are your paying client, but tenant experience shapes word of mouth and future leasing enquiries too. Ask consistently and only at genuine positive moments, applying the same rules to both audiences.

Google Reviews

Google Reviews for Property Managers

A property management agency answers to two very different audiences on the same review page — the landlord who signed the management agreement, and the tenant who deals with your team every day. Here's how to handle both, and the complaint types that show up most.

Updated 21 August 2026 · 7 min read

Two audiences, one review feed

Most local businesses have one kind of customer writing their reviews. A property management agency has two, and they can have completely opposite experiences of the same tenancy: a landlord who's thrilled with reliable rent and a well-vetted tenant, and that same tenant leaving a frustrated review about a maintenance request that took three weeks to action. Both are genuine, both are valid, and both landing on the same profile is normal for this industry rather than a sign something's gone wrong.

Reading your reviews with that split in mind matters. A profile with strong landlord reviews and a cluster of tenant complaints about communication isn't contradictory — it's telling you two different things about two different sides of the same operation, and each deserves its own read rather than being averaged into one impression.

Can you dispute a review because the reviewer wasn't your paying customer?

It's tempting, when a tenant leaves a negative review, to argue they were never actually your client — the landlord signed the management agreement and pays your fee, not the tenant. That argument doesn't hold up against Google's policies, which are concerned with whether a review reflects a genuine experience with the business, not narrowly with who paid the invoice.

A tenant who's dealt with your inspections, your maintenance coordination, and your communication for the length of a tenancy has a real, reviewable relationship with your agency, even though the landlord is the one who chose you. Reporting a tenant review as fake purely on the grounds that they weren't the fee-paying client is unlikely to succeed, and it isn't really the right tool for the underlying problem anyway.

The two complaint types that dominate this industry

Maintenance response time and bond disputes account for the large majority of negative reviews property managers see, and both benefit from the same disciplined approach: acknowledge the frustration honestly, avoid relitigating the specific dollar figures or timeline in public, and point toward the process that actually resolves it.

For a maintenance complaint, a brief acknowledgment plus an invitation to follow up directly does more good than an explanation of exactly why the job took as long as it did — that explanation, even if entirely reasonable, tends to read as an excuse in a public thread. For a bond dispute, remember there's a formal process for resolving genuine disagreements — your state's residential tenancy authority or tribunal, such as the RTA in Queensland, NCAT in NSW, or VCAT in Victoria — and your reply is stronger for pointing toward it rather than arguing the number publicly.

Asking landlords for reviews

The natural moment to ask a landlord is around a genuine win in the relationship — a smooth lease renewal, a quick re-let after a vacancy, or a maintenance issue resolved well and communicated clearly along the way. That's when the landlord's confidence in your management is highest, and a short, specific ask converts far better than a generic annual request.

Should you ask tenants too?

Many agencies don't think to ask tenants at all, on the assumption that the landlord is the "real" customer — but tenant word of mouth shapes future leasing enquiries in a market where prospective renters research an agency's reputation before applying, not just landlords choosing a manager. An agency confident in how it treats tenants should be comfortable asking them too, at a genuine positive moment such as a well-handled maintenance resolution or the start of a smooth tenancy.

The same anti-gating rule applies regardless of which audience you're asking: ask consistently, not just after a resolution went well, and never make the ask conditional on how the interaction went.

What never to do

Don't offer a discount on management fees, a rent concession, or any other incentive in exchange for a review, from either a landlord or a tenant.
Don't confirm or discuss a specific tenancy's financial details — bond amount, arrears, rent paid — in a public reply, even if the reviewer raised the figure themselves.
Don't argue the outcome of a bond dispute in the reply thread. Acknowledge the concern and point to the formal process in your state instead.
Don't create a second Google Business Profile per property manager or per branch at the same address to work around a mixed rating — that's a duplicate listing, which splits your reviews rather than solving the underlying issue.