This article is general information only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional for advice specific to your situation.
Key takeaways
- A single tenant changeover typically costs $2,000 to $5,000 once you account for lost rent, cleaning, advertising, and repairs at handover.
- The two most common reasons good tenants leave are ignored maintenance requests and unreasonable rent increases.
- Gradual rent increases of 3 to 5% at lease renewal are almost always accepted by tenants who are happy in the property.
- Reach out about lease renewals six to eight weeks before expiry. Tenants who feel valued are more likely to stay.
- Accepting pets with appropriate conditions opens your property to more settled tenants who stay longer because pet-friendly rentals are hard to find.
Finding a good tenant is hard work. If you are still in the process, see our guide on how to screen tenants in Australia. Keeping one costs almost nothing by comparison, and yet most landlords don't think about retention until they're reading a vacate notice.
Every time a tenant leaves, you're up for cleaning, advertising, a likely gap between tenancies, and the time it takes to settle someone new in. Add it up honestly and a single changeover typically costs between $2,000 and $5,000 once you account for lost rent, professional cleaning, photography, advertising fees, and the wear and tear that shows up at every handover. Use the cash flow calculator to see how even a few weeks of vacancy affects your bottom line. A tenant who stays for three or four years instead of one quietly saves you thousands.
The Fastest Way to Lose a Good Tenant
Ask any long-term tenant why they left and the answer is almost always one of two things: the rent became unreasonable, or maintenance requests were ignored.
Both are entirely within your control.
When a tenant reports something broken, they are not being a nuisance; they are managing your asset for you. A leaking tap left for three weeks becomes a damaged vanity. A dodgy power outlet becomes a safety issue. Responding to maintenance requests within a day or two, even if just to acknowledge receipt and give a timeframe, signals to the tenant that they are renting from someone who takes the property seriously. That reassurance is worth more than you might think.
For urgent repairs (a burst pipe, a failed hot water system, a broken heater in the middle of winter) most states require you to act immediately. But the tenants who stay longest are usually not the ones who only needed emergency callouts. They are the ones who felt heard when smaller things went wrong too.
Being Fair With Rent Increases
Rent increases handled badly are one of the most common reasons a reliable tenant decides to look elsewhere. That does not mean never increasing the rent; it means doing it in a way that feels reasonable.
A modest rent increase of 3–5% at lease renewal, given with proper notice and in line with what the market is doing, is almost always accepted by a tenant who is happy in the property. A sudden jump of $100 per week after two years of no movement tends to feel like a betrayal, even if it is technically justified by the market. How you communicate the increase matters almost as much as the number itself.
Our guide to when to raise the rent covers the timing and notice requirements in detail. For broader guidance on pricing, see setting the right rent price. The short version: keep increases gradual, give proper notice, and weigh the increase against the real cost of replacing the tenant.
Calculate What a Fair Increase Looks Like
Enter your current weekly rent and a proposed increase below. The calculator also shows the notice period rules for your state.
Enter your current rent and proposed increase to see the breakdown.
If a 5% increase on $550 per week adds $1,430 per year to your rental income but risks losing a tenant who costs you $3,000 to replace, the maths is clear. Run the numbers before you send that letter.
Respect Their Home
Your rental property is your investment. It is also someone's home. Tenants who feel that tension, who sense the landlord views the property purely as a financial instrument and them as a risk to manage, don't tend to stick around.
Respecting privacy is the simplest way to demonstrate this. Give the required notice before any entry, keep routine inspections to the permitted frequency, and don't show up unannounced. If you own in NSW, the NSW rental laws guide covers the specific entry notice requirements. Most states require at least 24 hours' written notice for a routine inspection. Following the rules is the floor; being genuinely considerate raises it.
Where possible, take a flexible approach to reasonable requests. A tenant who wants to hang pictures, repaint a room in a neutral colour, or bring a pet deserves a real conversation rather than an automatic no. Accepting pets, with appropriate conditions, opens your property to a pool of tenants who are often more settled and more grateful for the approval. Many will stay longer simply because finding another pet-friendly rental is difficult. For more on tenant management and your legal obligations, see our guide to managing tenants and leases in Australia.
Small Upgrades That Make a Difference
You don't need to renovate to retain a good tenant. You need to show the property is being looked after.
A dishwasher in a property that doesn't have one is often cited as the single most valued addition by renters. Air conditioning (particularly in Queensland, Western Australia, and through a Sydney summer) can be the difference between a tenant renewing and a tenant leaving. Fresh paint in a tired room, new blinds, a repaired fence gate: small things that cost a few hundred dollars and signal that you're invested in the place.
These improvements are not just goodwill. Many are deductible as repairs or capital works, which means your accountant can help you structure them in a way that works for your tax position. Use the depreciation calculator to estimate the deduction on larger items like air conditioning units or appliances. Always check with your accountant for advice specific to your situation.
Renewing Leases Before They Become a Problem
The window around a fixed-term lease expiry is when you are most likely to lose a good tenant, not because they want to leave, but because no one asked them to stay.
Reach out six to eight weeks before the end of the lease. Let them know you'd like to offer a renewal, confirm any changes to the rent, and make it easy for them to say yes. Most tenants who are happy in a property will renew if you ask them clearly and early. The ones who were quietly considering a move are more likely to stay if they feel valued and the terms are fair.
Keeping a note of lease expiry dates is the kind of detail that's easy to miss when you're managing a property alongside a full-time job. propkt tracks upcoming lease renewals so you get a prompt before the window closes, not after the tenant has already started browsing listings. It also tracks maintenance requests and expense records, so you always have the full picture of what each property is costing, and earning, you.
Good tenants don't need much to stay. They need maintenance dealt with, rent increases that feel fair, and a landlord who respects that they live there. Get those things right and turnover becomes the exception rather than the rule.
propkt is free for your first property. Give it a try.