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A third-party servicing agreement has been reached between leading multifamily companies AvalonBay Communities and Gables Residential. Under the agreement, AvalonBay’s Customer Care Center will provide comprehensive back-office, financial administrative support services to Gables’ portfolio of over 25,000 apartment residences in 10 states and Washington, D.C.

Support will include customer service and account inquiries, billing, delinquency notifications, legal and eviction support, and payment and security deposit processing, announced the companies.

One of the first centralized service centers in the multifamily industry, AvalonBay’s Customer Care Center opened in 2007 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as a separate business unit from its residential operations to provide enhanced service to its residents more efficiently and at a lower cost.

“We are excited to extend our capabilities at our Customer Care Center to support the Gables portfolio, leveraging the investments we have made in our centralized infrastructure, as well as creating a new revenue source for AvalonBay,” said Benjamin Schall, CEO of AvalonBay. “Over the last 15 years, our Customer Care Center has demonstrated its ability to create efficiencies and deliver excellent customer service that can now benefit others and create more value for AvalonBay.”

According to Gables, it has focused on efforts over the past several years to centralize its administrative functions across its portfolio to maximize efficiencies, enhance value for its investors, and better serve its customers.

“The new centralized service opportunity with AvalonBay’s Customer Care Center furthers Gables’ strategy in which our business model reflects greater customer service demand and those of a changing industry,” said Gables CEO Sue Ansel. “Gables believes that the AvalonBay Customer Care Center understands and will maintain the level of service we expect to provide to our customers.”

While the AvalonBay Customer Care Center will provide support to the Gables portfolio, the two companies’ portfolios, as well as business and operational decisions related to each portfolio, will continue to be managed separately.

AvalonBay, which was named the fourth largest apartment owner of 2023 by the National Multifamily Housing Council, owns over 80,000 apartment units in 12 states and Washington, D.C.