Blog · Landlords
Property management fees,
explained line by line
Management percentage, leasing fee, inspection charges — what each line on a landlord statement is really paying for, and which fees should make you suspicious.
Landlord statements confuse people because agencies slice the same service into different lines. Let me show you what's normal, what's padded, and what should make you call us.
The three core fees
Management fee — the ongoing percentage, usually 5–7% of rent collected. This pays for rent collection, inspections, maintenance coordination, tenant queries and rent reviews. It should only ever apply to collected rent — a vacancy means no fee.
Leasing fee — one to two weeks' rent when a new tenant signs. Covers advertising, viewings, screening, lease preparation and the ingoing condition report.
Lease renewal — typically $100–$200 for renewing an existing lease. Covers the paperwork and the rent review that should come with it.
Every line on our statements fits one of the three core fees.
A management fee is insurance against bad tenants and lazy follow-up. Price it like insurance, not like a commodity. — Priya Sharma, head of property management
Fees worth questioning
Inspection fees on top of a full management percentage — routine inspections should be inside the percentage, not extra line items. Statement fees and 'administration' charges — accounting is the job, not an add-on. Maintenance markup — some agencies clip tradie invoices by 10%; we pass invoices through at cost.
None of these are illegal. They're just a sign of an agency that prices the headline low and claws it back in the fine print.
What good management actually returns
Our arrears rate is 0.4% and average vacancy runs ten days — that's what the percentage buys when screening and follow-up are done properly. A cheap manager who misses a bad tenant costs you a month of rent plus tribunal time, which dwarfs a percentage point of fee difference. Numbers on our approach live on the management page.
Related reading & services
Where to go next.
Quick questions
Landlord questions.
Want a statement that makes sense?
Ask for a rental appraisal — we'll show you the rent your property should earn and exactly what our management costs.