Kansas rules for property managers

The Kansas license act defines lease as renting or leasing for nonresidential use, so managing and leasing residential rentals for others does not require a real estate license. Commercial leasing and sales do require one.

Residential leasing and management are outside the license act. For licensed activity, exemptions include owners acting on their own property, unpaid holders of a power of attorney, attorneys, court fiduciaries, and employees owning 5 percent or more of the owning entity.

Licensed brokers must keep a separate, designated trust account at an insured institution in Kansas for funds received in a real estate transaction, file a consent-to-audit form, and may not keep interest without written consent. These license-law rules do not reach unlicensed residential managers.

The pet deposit is in addition to the base cap. Subsidized municipal housing authorities may use their own schedule.

Itemize deductions for unpaid rent and damage in a written notice. The 30-day outer limit runs from termination, delivery of possession and the tenant's demand; if the tenant makes no demand within 30 days, mail the balance to the last known address. Wrongful withholding costs the amount due plus damages of 1.5 times the amount wrongfully withheld.

The act does not require interest or a specific account. Tenants may not apply the deposit to the last month's rent unless the lease allows it. Whoever holds the landlord's interest at the end of the tenancy is bound by the deposit rules.

The act does not set a late fee cap, so the lease controls. Accepting late rent without reservation waives your right to terminate for that late payment.

Kansas law does not cap application or screening fees. Follow federal FCRA rules when denying based on a report.

Kansas does not set a rent increase notice period. Raise rent during a fixed lease only if the lease allows it. For month-to-month tenants, give written notice timed like a termination notice, at least 30 days before a periodic rent date. You may not raise rent to retaliate against protected complaints.

No city, county or township may enact or enforce rent control on private residential or commercial property. Voluntary agreements tied to incentives are allowed.

The 3 days are counted as three consecutive 24-hour periods starting at delivery or posting. Serve the tenant, a resident over 12, or post in a conspicuous place. If mailed, allow 2 extra days.

For a material breach, give written notice that the lease ends at least 30 days after receipt unless the tenant remedies within 14 days. A good-faith effort to cure stops termination. If a similar breach happens again after the 14-day period, you may give a 30-day termination notice with no cure right.

The notice must end the tenancy on a periodic rent-paying date at least 30 days after receipt. A tenant on military orders needs to give no more than 15 days. Willful holdovers can owe up to 1.5 months' rent or 1.5 times actual damages.

Give a 3-day notice to leave before filing (it can be combined with the act's notices). The summons sets an appearance 3 to 14 days after issue. If a trial is needed it must happen within 14 days of the appearance date. The writ of restitution must be executed within 14 days after the officer receives it. Since July 1, 2026, courts must consider mediation and must order a continuance of up to 14 days while the parties mediate (L. 2026, ch. 132).

Abandonment can be presumed when rent is 10 days late and most belongings are gone, unless the tenant says otherwise. Store property at the tenant's expense. Publish a notice once in a county newspaper at least 15 days before disposal and mail a copy to the tenant within 7 days of publication. Proceeds go first to storage and sale costs, then to amounts the tenant owes.

You may enter without consent only for an extreme hazard involving possible loss of life or severe property damage. During a tenant absence of more than 30 days you may enter as reasonably necessary. Do not use access to harass.

Maintain electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating and air conditioning, and supplied appliances; provide running water, reasonable hot water and heat, and trash receptacles; use reasonable care in common areas. Small buildings (up to four households) may shift some duties to tenants in a good-faith written agreement. Retaliation for code complaints is barred.

Disclose in writing the name and address of the manager and the owner or agent for notices. Within 5 days of move-in, you and the tenant must jointly inspect and sign a written condition record, and the tenant gets a copy. A landlord-provided move-out form with extra terms must carry a bold warning statement. Federal lead paint disclosure applies to pre-1978 housing.

State law adds ancestry to the federal list and requires reasonable accommodations and modifications for people with disabilities.

Tenants can file free for expungement of an eviction record 3 years after judgment if any money judgment is paid and no new eviction judgment was entered; landlords have 30 days to object. Courts must consider mediation in residential evictions and must grant a continuance of up to 14 days while the parties mediate.

• Kansas Human Rights Commission
• Lawrence Human Relations Commission (City of Lawrence)