Is your property manager actually any good?
Most landlords sense something is off long before they do anything about it. Answer eleven quick questions and get an honest read on how your current Perth property manager is really performing, and where it might be quietly costing you.
The eleven things a good Perth property manager
should be getting right.
The scorecard above is built on the eleven markers that most reliably separate a well-run management from one that is quietly underperforming. Here is what each one is really testing, and what good looks like in Western Australia.
How fast they respond
Same-day responses are the standard in a well-run agency. Regularly waiting days, or chasing calls that never come back, is a service failure rather than an occasional hiccup.
Whether you keep the same manager
High staff turnover at large agencies means landlords re-introduce themselves on every call. Each handover loses history and risks missed documents.
Whether rent reviews actually happen
In WA rent can rise only once every 12 months. A good manager starts the review early, on current market data. A manager who never initiates one is almost certainly leaving money on the table.
When your rent reaches you
End-of-month batch processing suits the agency, not you. Same-day disbursement means cleaner cash flow and a payment that is not tied to someone else's calendar.
What inspections really tell you
Overloaded managers recycle the same lines from one report to the next. A water mark becomes noted and monitoring, and a small problem hides in boilerplate until it is expensive.
How maintenance is handled
Small issues become costly ones when nobody is watching. A request should be logged, tracked and closed, with progress you can actually see.
Whether you understand your fees
The fine print of a monthly statement is where the margin lives. Report fees, title searches and admin levies add up, and most landlords never look closely enough to catch them.
Commission on reimbursables
Some agencies apply their management percentage to water, gas and electricity the tenant reimburses, as well as to rent. Commission should apply to rent collected only.
Whether you are locked in
Many Perth agreements run two years with liquidated damages on early exit. You should stay because you are well looked after, not because leaving is costly.
If your rent roll was sold
A rent roll sale transfers files, not your commitment. When an agency sells, you are free to appoint a manager you actually chose, rather than accepting the buyer.
Whether you feel confident
The quiet test that sits behind all the others. If you are not confident your property is genuinely being managed rather than processed, that instinct is usually right.
Straight answers on judging
your property manager.
The questions landlords actually search for, answered plainly. If you want a personalised read rather than the general answer, the scorecard above does it in two minutes.
A good property manager responds the same day, reviews your rent proactively against current market data, sends detailed inspection reports with photos, resolves maintenance without being chased, and charges clearly with nothing unexplained on your statement. The quickest way to check yours is to score it against the eleven markers in the free scorecard above, which takes about two minutes and gives you an honest read.
The common signs are slow or no responses, a different contact every few months, rent that has never been proactively reviewed, maintenance requests that stall, inspection reports that look copied and pasted, and charges on your statement you cannot explain. Any one is a yellow flag. Several together usually mean your property is being processed rather than managed. The scorecard above checks for all of them at once.
In Western Australia, rent can be increased no more than once every 12 months. A good manager begins the review well before that window opens, using current market data, so any increase is ready the day it is allowed. If your manager has never initiated a rent review, you may be sitting below market without knowing it. This is one of the markers the scorecard tests.
There is no rule that requires it, and a fair fee structure applies management commission to rent collected only. Some agencies also apply their percentage to the water, gas and electricity a tenant reimburses, which quietly lifts your effective fee. If you are unsure whether yours does, check your monthly statement line by line. You can also compare your real cost here.
Overcharging is rarely one large fee. It is usually several small ones: end of financial year report fees, title searches, admin levies, and commission applied to reimbursables on top of rent. Most landlords never look closely enough to catch them. Add them up across a year before judging the headline management rate, and the picture often looks different.
No. A rent roll sale transfers files, not your commitment. Your management authority is an agreement between you and the agency you originally chose. When that agency sells, you are free to appoint a different manager rather than accepting the buyer. Many Western Australian landlords use that moment to move to a manager they actually chose.
Most Western Australian management agreements require 28 to 60 days written notice, set out in your management authority. If you are still within an initial fixed term, an early exit can incur liquidated damages. The exact terms are in your agreement, and a good incoming manager will check them for you before you take any action. Here is how switching works.
If your answers to the scorecard land in the higher range, a change is usually worth it, because the gaps it surfaces are the ones that cost you rent and patience over time. If you score low, you are well looked after and should stay. Either way, switching in WA is simpler than most landlords expect: you serve notice, the incoming manager handles the file and the tenant, and most transitions complete within two to four weeks.
The conversation is free,
and so is the honesty.
We will look at your current arrangement, tell you exactly what a switch would involve, and give you a straight comparison. If you are already well managed, we will say so.
Call or text Daria: 0422 238 434