Savings Calculator

Property management fees in Australia typically run between 7% and 10% of your weekly rent as an ongoing charge. That percentage is applied to the gross rent collected, paid monthly. On a property earning $550 per week, you are looking at roughly $2,000 to $2,860 a year in management fees alone.

But the headline rate is rarely the full picture. Most agencies also charge a letting fee each time they find a new tenant. This is usually one to two weeks' rent, so $550 to $1,100 per new tenancy. If your tenants stay for two years on average, that adds another $275 to $550 per year to your effective management cost.

Then there are the extras that many landlords do not expect: lease renewal fees ($100 to $200), routine inspection fees ($50 to $100 per inspection, sometimes quarterly), tribunal attendance fees, and administration charges on maintenance jobs the agent arranges. For a full breakdown of these costs, read our guide on the real cost of owning a rental property.

On a property grossing $28,600 in annual rent, total management costs can easily reach $3,500 to $4,000 per year. Those fees are fully tax-deductible, which softens the blow at tax time, but they are still real money leaving your bank account every month.

Multiply that across two or three properties and a decade of ownership, and you are looking at a significant chunk of your rental income going to someone else.

The calculator above gives you a specific number based on your rent and the agent fee you are paying (or would pay). For most landlords with one or two properties, the annual savings from self-managing fall between $2,000 and $5,000 per property.

Here is a concrete example. If your property rents for $550 per week and your agent charges 8%, you are paying $2,288 a year in management fees. If you self-manage using propkt's free plan, you keep that entire amount. Over five years, that is $11,440 back in your pocket from a single property.

With two properties, the numbers grow quickly. Two properties at $550 per week with an 8% agent fee cost you $4,576 per year. Even with propkt's Pro plan at $144 per year for unlimited properties, your annual savings are $4,432. Over five years, that is more than $22,000.

Those savings are not theoretical. They come straight off your largest controllable expense after the mortgage. And unlike cutting maintenance costs (which can backfire) or reducing insurance (which is risky), dropping your property manager does not reduce the quality of your investment. It just means you are doing the work yourself.

The real question is not whether self-managing saves money. It clearly does. The question is whether the time commitment is worth it for your situation. For most landlords with local properties and a manageable portfolio, the answer is yes. For a deeper comparison, our guide on self-managing vs hiring a property manager walks through the trade-offs in detail.

The idea of self-managing can sound daunting if you have never done it. In practice, the day-to-day workload for a well-managed property is lighter than most people expect.

In a typical year with a settled tenant, self-managing means:

• Collecting rent (usually automated via direct debit or bank transfer)
• Conducting two to four routine inspections per year
• Responding to maintenance requests and organising tradespeople
• Tracking income and expenses for your tax return
• Staying across the tenancy rules in your state

Most landlords find this takes one to three hours per month during a normal period. The time commitment increases during vacancies, when you need to find and screen new tenants, or when dealing with problem tenants or major repairs.

The part that trips up most self-managing landlords is not the tenant relationship. It is the record-keeping. Tracking which expenses are deductible, keeping receipts organised, knowing when bonds are due, remembering inspection dates, and having your numbers ready for your accountant at tax time. That is where a purpose-built tool makes the difference.

propkt handles the administrative side of self-managing: tracking your income and expenses, managing tenants and leases, storing documents, and generating tax summaries. It does not replace you as the landlord, but it removes the spreadsheet juggling that makes self-managing feel harder than it needs to be.

Let's put real numbers to it. Say you own a single investment property in Melbourne, renting for $520 per week, and your property manager charges 7.5% plus GST on the management fee, with a one-week letting fee every two years.

Annual management fee: $520 x 52 x 7.5% = $2,028

Letting fee (averaged per year): $520 / 2 = $260

Lease renewal and inspection fees: approximately $400 per year

Total annual management cost: roughly $2,688

Over five years, that is $13,440 in management fees on a single property.

If you self-manage with propkt's free plan (which covers one property with all features), your cost is $0. Every dollar of that $13,440 stays with you.

Now consider what $13,440 could do instead. It could cover more than a year of council rates and insurance. It could fund a renovation that justifies a rent increase. It could go towards paying down your mortgage faster, building equity in the property.

For landlords who are on tight margins, where the property is borderline between cash-flow positive and negative, removing the management fee can shift the equation entirely. A property that loses $1,500 a year with an agent suddenly earns $1,000 a year without one. That is not a minor difference when you are trying to hold a property long enough for capital growth to do its job.

Self-managing is not for every landlord or every situation. Here is an honest breakdown of when it works and when paying a property manager is the smarter choice.

Self-managing works well when:

• Your property is local, within reasonable driving distance for inspections and emergencies
• You own one or two properties and the workload is manageable alongside your job
• Your property is in good condition and does not need constant repairs
• You are comfortable communicating with tenants directly
• You want more control over tenant selection, rent reviews, and maintenance decisions

A property manager makes more sense when:

• Your property is interstate and you cannot easily inspect or attend to issues
• You own three or more properties and the combined workload is genuinely competing with your day job
• You have a demanding career or family situation where time is your scarcest resource
• You have a difficult tenant situation and want professional buffer and tribunal experience

If you are buying your first investment property, self-managing from the start is a good way to learn how property ownership actually works. You will understand your costs better, learn the tenancy rules in your state, and develop a realistic view of what the property earns and costs.

Many landlords start with a property manager and switch to self-managing once they realise how much of the work they can handle themselves. The savings calculator above gives you the numbers. The decision, ultimately, is about whether you are prepared to put in the time.