You are not locked in, and you do not have to wait for the lease to end.
Most Perth landlords who are unhappy with their property manager stay far longer than they should, because they assume switching is complicated, disruptive or risky. It is none of those things.
You do not even send the notice. You complete our four step sign-up, we serve it on your current agency, and we copy you into the email so you can see it has gone.
Three things landlords believe that are keeping them where they are.
Every one of these comes up on almost every conversation, and every one of them is wrong. They are the reason most people stay a year longer than they meant to.
"I have to wait until the lease ends."
You can switch at any point during a tenancy, and mid-tenancy is often the better time, because it gives the new manager room to prepare properly for the renewal. Your tenant signs nothing new.
"It will upset my tenant."
The tenancy continues exactly as it is. Same lease, same rent, same inspection schedule. Your tenant gets a letter and updates their payment details. Many of them are relieved.
"It will take months of paperwork."
Most transitions finish in two to four weeks, and nearly all of that is the notice period running quietly in the background. Your part is a four step sign-up form.
Signs it is time to move.
Most landlords know something is wrong long before they act on it. If any of these sound familiar, the instinct you have been ignoring is probably right.
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You cannot get a response within 24 hours.
Same-day responses are the standard in a well-run agency. If you are regularly waiting days to hear back, or your calls go to voicemail and never come back, that is a service failure rather than an occasional hiccup.
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A different contact every few months.
High staff turnover inside large agencies means you re-introduce yourself on every call. Each handover carries risk. Documents get missed, history is lost, and the new person does not know your tenant, your lease terms or your expectations.
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Your rent has never been reviewed proactively.
Rent can only increase once in any twelve months, on 60 days written notice, so a good manager starts well before the window opens and brings you current comparable evidence. If you have always been the one to raise it, you are almost certainly leaving money on the table. Here is how a review should run.
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Maintenance requests vanish into a void.
A request goes in. Nothing happens. You follow up. You are told someone is looking into it. Weeks pass. Reactive maintenance at volume is the norm, it erodes the tenant relationship, and it makes repairs more expensive than they needed to be.
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Charges appear that you cannot account for.
End of financial year report fees, title search charges, database check surcharges, admin fees and invoice processing levies. Many owners do not read a statement closely enough to catch them. If you are not sure what you are paying for, that is the answer. How to compare a fee schedule properly.
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Your rent roll was sold and nobody asked you.
This happens more than most landlords realise. When an agency sells its rent roll, owners are transferred to a management company they did not choose. You are not obliged to accept them. Your management authority is a contract with the agency you picked, and you can appoint someone else instead.
Twenty-eight days, not eleven months.
The single biggest reason owners stay put is the belief that they have to wait for the lease to end. Drawn on the same twelve months, here is the difference between the wait people imagine and the notice period they actually have.
The filled section is the switch. You sign up on day zero, we serve the notice that same day, and the rest of it runs in the background. Drawn to scale across twelve months. Twenty-eight days is the notice period in a typical Western Australian management agreement, and the exact period is set out in your management authority. Some require 60 days. Either way it is a fraction of a lease term, it runs in the background, and nothing about the tenancy changes while it does.
Switching is free. Staying is not.
Inertia has a price and it is charged every week, quietly, on a statement most owners skim. Put your own property in and see what it is.
And it does not happen once.
The same number, accumulated across a hold. The flat line along the bottom is what switching costs you over the same period.
Your figures, not ours. The rent gap is what you believe the property would lease for today against what it is collecting, which is the thing a rent review is supposed to find and close. The charges figure is the one most owners underestimate, because it arrives in pieces across twelve statements rather than as a single line. We charge nothing to take over a property. The only possible cost of switching is an early termination clause in your existing agreement, which we check and tell you about before you commit to anything.
How the switch actually runs.
Four stages, and you appear in exactly one of them. Everything else happens between us and your outgoing agency.
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We read your current agreement first.
Free, and without obligation. We read your management authority for the notice period and for any early termination clause or liquidated damages provision, so you know exactly what leaving would involve before you decide anything. If it turns out the timing does not work for you yet, we will say so. Comparing the fees themselves is your call and your arithmetic, and our whole schedule is on the calculator so you can do it without asking us for anything.
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You complete a four step sign-up. That is your part.
A details form, a quick identity check by secure link, the REIWA management agreement signed by DocuSign, and a MyPlace login. It is all here and most owners are through it in one sitting. We then serve the notice of termination on your current agency ourselves, and copy you into the email so you can see it has gone. You do not write to them, and you do not have to find the words. Notice under a standard Western Australian management agreement is typically 28 to 60 days, and there is no requirement to wait for the lease to end.
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We handle the transition and the awkward conversations.
We deal with the outgoing agency directly to collect keys, documents and records, and we retrieve your complete file: the lease, the property condition report, inspection reports and the rent ledger. Your tenant receives a letter from us, signs nothing, and updates their payment details. You never have to speak to your old agency at all.
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Management starts the day the notice expires.
A named manager, live owner portal access from day one, a rent review scheduled if one is due, and maintenance workflows ready to go. We also carry out an initial review of the property and flag anything that needs attention, which is often the first time an owner finds out what has been sitting unaddressed.
One thing worth knowing up front. If your current agreement is still inside its initial fixed term, early termination may incur liquidated damages payable to your outgoing agency. We identify whether that applies to you, and what it would actually cost, before you sign anything with us. Sometimes the answer is to wait a few months, and we will tell you that rather than let you walk into a bill.
Your side of the switch is a sign-up form.
Counted out rather than described, because "we handle everything" is what every agency says and none of them show you the list. Note what is not on your side: any contact at all with the agency you are leaving.
- Fill in the details form
- Pass a quick identity check, by secure link
- Sign the REIWA management agreement, by DocuSign
- Log in to MyPlace
Most owners are through that in one sitting. Nothing on that list involves your current agency. You do not write to them, negotiate with them, chase them or explain yourself to them, and you are copied into the notice we send so you can see it has gone.
- Read your existing management agreement and find the notice period
- Check for early termination clauses and tell you what they would cost
- Draft the notice of termination
- Serve the notice, copy you into the email, and deal with them from there
- Collect the keys, security devices and records
- Retrieve the lease, condition report, inspection history and rent ledger
- Check the bond is correctly lodged and the compliance records are current
- Write to your tenant and introduce ourselves
- Set up your owner portal so you have live access from day one
- Inspect the property and flag anything that has been left
The seventh item is the one that most often turns something up. Bonds lodged late or not at all, and smoke alarm or RCD certificates that expired without anyone noticing, are the two things we find most frequently in a handover file, and both sit with the lessor rather than the outgoing agency once they are found.
What actually changes.
An honest side by side of what a switch tends to look like for the owners who come to us.
| What matters | Local Property Partners | What we commonly see |
|---|---|---|
| Your point of contact | Daria, directly. Named, and the same person in three years. | Rotating, often a junior or a new starter. |
| Response time | Same day as standard. | Variable, often 24 to 72 hours or longer. |
| Rent reviews | Reviewed 90 days before every lease end, on current comparables. | Reactive, when you ask, or not at all. |
| Inspections | The manager who knows the property, with a 360 degree virtual tour. | Often a junior or a contractor, with phone photos. |
| Management fee | A sliding scale from 9.9% down to 5.75% plus GST, on rent collected only. Condition report, bond inspection and end of financial year pack included. | A headline rate with report fees, title searches and admin levies billed separately. |
| Owner visibility | Live portal. Every invoice as the original document, any hour. | A monthly statement, and chasing in between. |
| Rent payment | Same day, cleared the day the tenant pays. | End of month batch, held for up to four weeks. |
| Contract terms | No lock-in. Leave whenever you like. | Lock-in periods with liquidated damages on early exit. |
Common industry practices rather than any particular agency, and we never name one. The full service in detail, or put your rent into the calculator.
Owners who made the switch.
Every one of these is public on Google, under the reviewer's own name.
"She took over at a critical time where tenants were moving out and she quickly set a marketing plan for new tenants and had a couple of days only as down time between tenants. Wish I did this years ago."
"Daria personally collected the management files, contacted my tenant before the handover to ensure a smooth transition, and kept me informed throughout."
"She has since completed a thorough property inspection, identified areas that require attention, and is preparing a structured maintenance plan that should have been in place years ago."
"Everything is handled smoothly, be it inspections, lease signing, regular maintenance, break leases, problem tenants, payments or statements. What stood out most has been the honesty and reliability. The next day payments are such a blessing, and all of these are standard inclusions, no extra fees."
"She took over the management authority seamlessly and handled a break lease professionally and without stress. Her appraisal achieved a better price than we expected."
"Issues are dealt with proactively, and we always feel that the property is being managed with care rather than just processed. We value the peace of mind."
Questions owners ask before switching.
Still stuck on something? Just ask.
Yes. There is no need to wait until the lease ends. Switching mid-tenancy is common and is often the better time to do it, because it gives the incoming manager time to assess the property and prepare properly for the lease renewal.
Your tenant is notified by letter, signs nothing new, and updates their payment details. The tenancy itself is not disrupted at all.
Management agreements in Western Australia typically require 28 to 60 days written notice to terminate, and the exact period is set out in your management authority document. In most cases it is 30 days, though some agreements require 60. We check this for you before you take any action.
If your agreement is still within its initial fixed term, early termination may incur liquidated damages, commonly calculated as a share of the management fees for the remaining term. We tell you clearly what applies in your situation before you commit to anything.
Nothing from us. There is no onboarding or setup fee. The only potential cost is an early termination clause in your existing agreement, which would be payable to your outgoing agency rather than to us.
We identify whether that applies and what it would cost before you make any decision. Our own fees are on the calculator, with nothing behind an enquiry form.
No. The tenancy continues unchanged. The lease terms, the rent, the inspection schedule and every other condition stay exactly as they are.
Your tenant receives a letter from us and updates their bank payment details. That is all. In practice tenants often respond positively, particularly where something had been going unresolved with the previous manager. How we handle the tenant side.
None. We collect them directly: the signed lease, the ingoing property condition report, routine inspection reports, the complete rent ledger and payment history, keys and security device records, maintenance history, and any compliance certificates or warranties on file.
If anything is missing or incomplete we identify and flag it as part of the handover review, which is worth having done whether you switch or not.
No. A rent roll sale transfers files, not your personal commitment. Your management authority is a contract between you and the agency you originally chose. When that agency sells, you are free to appoint a different manager rather than accepting whoever bought the business.
You should not be pressured into signing a new management agreement with the purchasing agency. This is the moment a lot of Perth owners quietly decide to choose for themselves instead.
Most transitions complete within two to four weeks from the time notice is served, and the notice period accounts for nearly all of that. We prepare everything in the background during the notice period so management begins the moment the transition date arrives.
The most common delay is an outgoing agency being slow to return documents, which we follow up directly. You do not chase them.
Worth reading before you move.
What management actually covers, week by week, and where the fee comes from.
Put in your weekly rent and see the exact fee, with nothing hidden behind an enquiry.
The person who will manage your property, and why the agency was built this way.
Why the headline percentage is rarely the whole number, and what else to ask for.
A longer read on what usually goes wrong, and how early it shows.
The first question worth asking anyone, including us.
The four steps, so you can see exactly what your side of it looks like before you start.
Start with a conversation,
not a commitment.
Send me the address. I will read your current management agreement, tell you exactly what switching would involve and what it would cost, if anything, and give you an honest comparison. If the timing does not work yet, I will tell you that too.
Or call Daria directly on 0422 238 434.
About this page and disclaimer
Written by Daria Tedling, Director and Licensee of Local Property Partners, REIWA 2025 Residential Property Manager of the Year and a 2026 REIA National Awards for Excellence Finalist. General information for Western Australian property owners, current at September 2026 and subject to change. Notice periods, termination provisions and any liquidated damages are governed by your existing management agreement, which should be read in full. Descriptions of common industry practice are general observations and do not refer to any particular agency. Not financial, legal or taxation advice. Tenancy obligations are governed by the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) and associated regulations, and specific requirements should be confirmed against the current legislation or with Consumer Protection Western Australia. Local Property Partners. Licence No. RA85442. ABN 48 582 232 398.