PM fees. Devil is in the details....

[jamontoast]

This may have been asked before but I can't seem to find it.
I have approach a few Pm in the local area to compare fees and they vary. But what I wanted to confirm was:

- initial letting fee from 0 to 1/2 to 1 wk rent with or w/o gst. Up to you to negotiate
- mgmt fee - dependent on where you are. Sydney centre its5.5%
- re-letting - never pay if re-let to same tenants or if PM does find new 1
- inspection fees. Nil.
- photos? Do you get this for all issues? FreE? Some are askin to pay
- attending tribunal - fair to pay for this additional work and it can be time consuming (or am I too soft?)
- preparing for tribunal - some charge and some pm don't?
- tra/ tric checks. Surely this must be free! Not up to $5.5/check?
- statement fees/ nth admin - $5.5p/m?? Isn't this part of mgmt fee?
- EOY statement - $22+. Not too sure of work effort but this should be covered in fees.
- tenancy agreement prep fee - &18. Standard
- advertising - is this not covered in the letting fee?
- on going relationship - priceless

of course there are plenty of arguments of other intangible things but this thread is to ask about common fees and all the little details which raises that little 5.5% mgmt fee to ?? My ip is a unit and in dense populated area.
Would like to know ppls experience. Thanks

 

[Goofy]

sounds like you want everything included for the massive rate of 5.5%... how about you ask your PM just to pay you $50 a week for the privilege of managing your property?

 

[priscilla]

The below is my experience of fees in Sydney

- letting fee normal is 1 week + GST
- Standard management fee is 7.7% including GST
- reletting 1 week + GST
- reletting to same tenant anything up 1 weeks rent
- Inspection fee these are quite varied from 0 up to $100 per inspection
- Photos with ingoing, outgoing & routine inspections from 0 to $50 per inspection
- Attendance at tribunal $50 per hour plus GST
- Preparation of documentation for tribunal/ insurance claims $50 per hour plus GST
- TRA & TICA checks - 0 - $10 per check
- Statements fee $5.50 is quite standard
- EOY statement fee - many agents charge up to $5 per month
- Tenancy Agreement Preparation Fee now will be standard $33 as the $15 can no longer be recouped from tenant (new regulations)
- Advertising depending what is required and the geographic location is generally covered in letting fee

The reality is all the additional charges have come about because of PI's wanting lower management fees, but still wanting a great service experienced PM etc. if you quote an all inclusive fee to people all they hear is the percentage not what is included and the business walks.

Let me give you an example, if you had an IP rented for $400 per week

All inclusive fee @ 9% X 48 (allowing for vacancy) = $1728.00 pa

@ 5.5% management fee X 48 1056
Letting fee X 2 800
Statement fee X 12 66
EOY statement fee 22
RTA fee X 2 66 = $2010 + + + pa
+ Tribunal attendance fees, advertising, inspection fees, photo fees, tribunal preparation etc

Yet if I go into the market place with an 9% management fee against others charging 5.5% how much business do you think I will get ????? All inclusive fees would also assist PI with their budgeting as the fee is spread more evenly across the year.

 

[NataleaK]

Im in Qld.

On my agreement I crossed off every "incidental" fee my PM had listed and made them "Nil". I also added a clause to the effect that any other fee excluding third party invoices were to be nil. I upped the management fee by 1%. The PM actually phoned me because she thought I had made a mistake.

Im happy because I have a fixed cost, PM is happy because they think they're getting a better deal.