Most landlords can tell you what their property manager charges. Far fewer can tell you what they actually get for it. That gap is where a lot of money quietly leaks out of an investment.
So here’s the honest version, no sales gloss.
What the fee is, in real numbers
In Brisbane, management fees typically sit between 7% and 9% of the weekly rent collected, though you’ll see anything from 5% to 12% across Queensland depending on the agency and the suburb. On a $600 a week rental at 8%, that’s about $48 a week, or roughly $2,500 a year.
That’s the headline. The headline is never the whole cost, and we’ll get to that.
What that fee is supposed to cover
The ongoing management fee covers the day-to-day running of your lease:
- Collecting the rent and paying it to you, with a monthly statement
- Chasing arrears the moment rent falls late, not weeks later
- Coordinating repairs and maintenance, getting quotes, and getting your approval
- Routine inspections and condition reports
- Handling tenant communication so you don’t get the 9pm phone calls
- Managing the bond, the lease, and the paperwork through the RTA
- Representing you at QCAT if a dispute ever goes that far
That’s the job. Done properly, you shouldn’t have to think about your property most of the time. That peace of mind is most of what you’re paying for.
The costs that aren’t in the headline percentage
This is where landlords get caught. The management fee is one line. There are usually several more:
- Letting fee. Charged every time a new tenant is placed. In Brisbane this is commonly one to two weeks’ rent, plus GST. High tenant turnover means you pay this more often.
- Advertising and marketing. Listing your property online, signage, sometimes photography. Some agencies bundle it, some charge separately.
- Lease renewal fee. A small admin charge when a tenant re-signs.
- Routine inspection fees. Some agencies include these, some bill per inspection.
- Annual statement fee. For your end-of-financial-year summary.
None of these are scams. They’re normal. But if you only compared agencies on the management percentage, you’d miss half the picture. Always ask for the all-in cost over a full year, not just the headline rate.
Why the cheapest fee often costs the most
Here’s the part the discount agencies won’t tell you. Property management isn’t a high-margin business when it’s staffed properly. When an agency pushes its fee too low, something has to give, and it’s almost always service. That shows up as one property manager juggling hundreds of properties, slow responses, missed maintenance, and vacancies that stretch out.
And vacancy is the real cost. Every week your property sits empty wipes out far more than the couple of percent you saved on the fee. A manager who keeps a good tenant in place and re-leases quickly is worth more than a cheap one who lets the property sit.
The questions that actually matter
When you’re weighing up a property manager, the fee is the easy thing to compare, so people fixate on it. These questions tell you more:
- What’s your average vacancy period, in days?
- What’s your arrears rate, the percentage of rent more than seven days late?
- Am I dealing with a senior manager or a junior handling hundreds of doors?
- How many properties does each of your managers look after?
The good ones answer straight away. The ones who dodge are the ones to skip.
Our take
We keep our rent roll deliberately tight, which is the same reason we keep our sales personal. When you’re not one of six hundred doors on a spreadsheet, things don’t get missed. That’s the whole point.
If you want to know what your property should actually be renting for, and what it would genuinely cost to have it managed properly, we’ll give you a straight answer.