Property management fees in Batumi: percentage, flat fee, subletting

Payment schemes for a property management company in Batumi differ in more than the rate. Each one shares out between you and the manager, in its own way, the empty nights that nobody bought and the strong months when the apartment is booked solid until the end of September.

Property management fee models: who pays for empty nights

An empty night costs money under any model: the electricity, the water and the building service charge arrive for the days when nobody stayed in the apartment as well. The difference is who loses along with you, or instead of you.

The first three models are management: the apartment works for you, and we are paid for our work. Subletting takes the form of a lease, and instead of a share of the bookings you receive the rent written into the contract.

Percentage and flat fee in our contract

How a percentage differs from a flat fee in terms of risk and what motivates the manager is covered in our comparison of a percentage and a flat fee. Here we cover only how both models work with us.

We calculate the percentage on the money received for the stay, after the Booking or Airbnb commission has been deducted. Cleaning and linen are paid for each stay and appear in the report as lines of their own, so for the same income a dozen short bookings cost the apartment more than two long ones. What else the percentage covers is listed on the page about short-term rental under our management.

The flat fee is paid as one amount a month for the list of tasks in the annex to the contract: how many visits, check-ins and checks it includes, and what is charged on top. We offer it when the work is roughly the same every month: a tenant on a one-year lease, looking after an empty apartment, or the work on site while you run the listing yourself.

Mixed schemes and how they look in the report

A mixed scheme is for an apartment that neither a percentage nor a flat fee suits all year round. We have four of them.

For the seasonal model the contract sets the switchover dates, for example closing the calendar from November, and a rule for a booking that spans the boundary: its nights are counted under the model of the month they fall in. The more parts a scheme has, the more important it is that each has its own line in the monthly owner statement.

Subletting: we rent the apartment and let it to guests ourselves

With subletting we sign a lease with you for an agreed term, with the right to let the apartment short-term or by the month. The rent under this lease arrives every month as one amount on the same day, even if there were no guests that month. Empty nights, cleaning, linen and messages with guests become our concern, and who pays the utilities and minor repairs is written into the lease as a separate clause.

In our price table this model is called subletting with fixed rent to the owner. The only thing it fixes firmly is the rent: the amount and the payment day set in the lease. We don't promise guest income or occupancy under any model, and with subletting they become our risk and have no effect on your rent.

The rent under subletting is lower than what a tenant on a one-year lease would pay. The difference covers what we take on: quiet winter weeks, frequent cleaning, the manager's work and normal wear from guests within the limits described in the lease. The strong season is ours too: if the apartment is fully booked in summer, your rent won't go up because of it.

There is no booking report with subletting, because the apartment is let to us. What you see instead is decided in the lease, for example photos of the apartment after scheduled checks. Without such a clause you will learn about its condition only on the day the keys are returned.

What to check in a sublease

The general questions for such a contract, from the number of guests to the return of the apartment against the inventory, are listed on the page about the management agreement and its limits. Add the clauses people tend to think of only a year later:

• whether the rent changes during the term, and by what rule;
• in what currency and on what day it is paid, and after what delay you are entitled to terminate the lease;
• whether you can stay in the apartment yourself, and how that changes the rent;
• what counts as normal wear with short-term rental, and who replaces textiles, crockery and appliances;
• what happens to the lease if you decide to sell the apartment;
• who insures the apartment and is liable to the neighbours below if a guest floods them.

Settle the tax question separately. Rent from a company that re-lets the apartment to guests may be taxed differently from rent paid by a one-year tenant, so agree the regime with a tax adviser before signing. The rates under the 2026 rules are collected on the page about rental income tax.

Which model to choose for your apartment

A new apartment with no booking history is hard to price fairly for a flat fee or subletting: nobody knows how it will be booked in winter. So for the first season we usually suggest a percentage and come back to the model once we have the summer reports in hand.

Changing the model mid-contract

The model is changed by a contract addendum, and it has a line that is often forgotten: which model applies to a booking made before the switch. Summer bookings in Batumi start coming in as early as spring, and if you switch from a flat fee to a percentage from May, a July booking made in March is already in the calendar. We count such bookings by the dates of the stay, just like bookings that span two seasons: that way one model applies in each month.

Moving from management to subletting is more complicated. Bookings already accepted have to be seen through until the guests check out, or transferred on the new terms, and the inventory has to be made again: from that day we are responsible to you for the condition of the apartment as the tenant, within the terms of the lease.

How much property management costs in Batumi under each payment scheme

For short-term rental our commission is 30–36% of the amount received for the stay after the Booking or Airbnb commission, and cleaning and linen are paid separately for each stay. With a long-term tenant the rate is 15–18% of the monthly rent. The flat management fee is 390–600 ₾ a month, and the amount depends on the list of tasks and the number of visits.

With subletting we pay you rent 21–30% below the rent a similar apartment gets on a long-term let. Choosing the model and the calculation before the contract are not charged for separately.

The percentage is closer to the upper end with short bookings, several bedrooms, check-in by meeting the guest instead of a keypad lock, and an apartment listed on several platforms. It is lower if you run the listing and the prices yourself. The discount under subletting depends on the view, the floor, the condition of the apartment and whether similar apartments get booked in winter. We write the final cost and the model into the contract after viewing the apartment and a month-by-month calculation.