Self-managing or using a property manager: what each actually costs

What self-managing actually involves

Advertising and photography. Enquiry handling. Viewings. Application screening, reference checks and credit checks within Privacy Act limits. Preparing a compliant tenancy agreement. Bond lodgement through Bond Hub within 23 working days. Ingoing inspection with photographs. Routine inspections with 48 hours’ notice, no more than once every four weeks. Maintenance triage, trade coordination and 24-hour access notices. Rent monitoring and arrears follow-up. Rent reviews with 60 days’ notice, once every 12 months. Pet consent decisions within 21 days on documented reasonable grounds. Healthy Homes assessment, remediation and record-keeping. Compliance statements at every new, renewed or varied agreement. Notices, terminations and Tribunal applications. Outgoing inspection and bond refund. That is the job. It is doable. It is not small.

The risk side, with numbers

• Healthy Homes non-compliance — up to $7,200
• Missing compliance statement — up to $500 per tenancy
• Charging a letting fee — unlawful act, up to $1,000 exemplary damages
• Retaliatory termination notice — notice set aside, plus exemplary damages
• Invalid 42-day notice served without qualifying grounds — notice invalid; possible retaliatory claim
• Entry without correct notice — breach of quiet enjoyment; compensation and exemplary damages
• Bond not lodged within 23 working days — unlawful act
• Insurance policy conditions unmet — claim declined, potentially the largest single exposure

That last one is worth sitting with. Many landlord policies require documented regular inspections. An owner who hasn’t inspected in a year and then has a significant claim may find cover unavailable, and the sum at stake dwarfs any management fee.

The vacancy side

Vacancy usually costs more than the fee. One vacant week is about 1.9% of annual rent. A typical management fee sits in the range of one week’s rent plus GST as a letting fee, plus a percentage of rent collected — the specifics vary by agency and are worth comparing directly. If professional management reduces void weeks by two a year, or extends average tenancy length by a year, that alone can offset the fee before any consideration of time or risk.

What professional management should deliver

Judge it against these, not against the fee.

• Time to let, and void weeks per year
• Arrears rate and how quickly arrears are actioned
• Maintenance response times, urgent and routine
• Inspection frequency, with photographic reports
• Documented Healthy Homes compliance, with the record set held
• Average tenancy length
• Bond dispute rate

Ask for these. An agency that cannot answer is not measuring them.

When self-managing genuinely works

One local property. Time available during business hours for viewings, inspections and trade access. Genuine appetite for staying current with tenancy law, which has changed materially five times since December 2024. Good systems and disciplined record-keeping. Emotional distance from the tenant relationship. If that’s an accurate description, self-managing is a reasonable choice and many owners do it well. The risk rises with distance from the property, with multiple properties, when life gets busy, and, most of all, when a tenancy goes wrong. Self-managing a good tenancy is straightforward. Self-managing a Tribunal application is not.

The honest framing

This is not a fee against zero. It’s a fee against the value of your time, plus the probability-weighted cost of a compliance error, plus the vacancy difference. For an owner with one local property, time, and an interest in the detail, self-managing can be the right answer. For an owner with several properties, or one at a distance, or no appetite for the regulatory tracking, the fee is usually the cheaper of the two.

Frequently asked questions