How much do property managers charge in Brisbane?

When landlords ask me how much property managers charge in Brisbane, I always give the same answer: it depends on which number you're looking at. The fee you see in the agency's brochure is almost never the fee you actually pay.

Most Brisbane agencies quote a management fee of 8–9% of weekly rent. Some discount operators advertise 6–7%. On the surface, the difference looks small. On a $650/week property, the gap between 7% and 9% is about $676 per year. But once you account for the fees that aren't in the headline rate, the real difference is often three to four times larger.

This article breaks down every fee category Brisbane landlords should understand before signing a management agreement — and what questions to ask before you do.

The management fee: what it actually covers

The management fee is a percentage of your rent collected each month. It covers the agency's core services: rent collection, disbursements to you, handling routine maintenance requests, and general landlord communication. In Brisbane, the typical range is 8–9% for established agencies, with some franchise groups sitting at 8.8%.

What the management fee does not include — in most agencies — is everything else.

The fees most agencies don't headline

Beyond the management fee, Brisbane landlords routinely pay additional charges that are buried in the management agreement's fee schedule. These include:

• Letting fee — charged when a new tenant is placed. Typically 1–2 weeks' rent ($650–$1,300 on a $650/week property). This fee applies every time a tenancy ends and a new tenant is found.
• Lease renewal fee — charged when an existing tenant renews their lease. Usually $100–$175 per renewal. On a two-year tenancy this applies once; on rolling one-year renewals it compounds.
• Routine inspection fee — some agencies charge $55–$85 per inspection, four times per year. That's $220–$340 annually before any maintenance costs.
• Maintenance coordination fee — a percentage (typically 5–10%) added to every trade invoice when the agency arranges maintenance on your behalf. On a $500 plumbing job, that's an extra $25–$50 on top of the trades cost.
• Administration fees — end-of-month statement fees, EOFY summary fees, postage fees, and tribunal representation fees, which vary by agency.

What does the real total look like?

Let’s model a $650/week Brisbane rental property with a typical large agency versus Fortune Key’s published schedule:

The headline management fee difference is about $370. Across the whole schedule the difference on this property is about $620 a year. Note where it does not go our way: our lease renewal is half a week’s rent, which on a $650 property is $325 against a typical flat renewal fee of $150. We charge more there because the renewal includes a written market rent review with comparable evidence rather than a signature on a rollover. The saving comes from the lower management rate and from not charging for inspections or adding a margin to trade invoices — not from bundling the letting fee away.

Figures are modelled on a $650/week property over a 12-month tenancy with one renewal, using the rates published on our fee schedule and typical Brisbane agency rates for comparison. Your actual figures will differ. Rent-based fees are shown at one week’s and half a week’s rent; GST applies as set out on the fee schedule.

How to compare agencies properly

When you're shopping for a Brisbane property manager, asking for their "management fee" will not give you a useful comparison. Instead, ask for the full fee schedule and work through these specific questions:

• Is the letting fee charged on every new tenancy, including renewals where the tenant leaves and re-signs?
• Do you charge a lease renewal fee for existing tenants staying on?
• Are routine inspections included in the management fee, or charged separately?
• Do you add a percentage to maintenance invoices?
• What administration fees apply at month-end or year-end?

A good agency will answer every one of these questions clearly and in writing. If you receive vague answers or are told fees vary "depending on the situation," treat it as a red flag.

What a published fee schedule actually means

At Fortune Key the whole schedule is on one page. The 7.7% flat management fee covers the day-to-day work — rent collection, tenant communications, maintenance coordination, arrears management, routine inspections, and an annual written rent review. Letting and lease renewal are charged separately, at one week's rent and half a week's rent respectively, and both are listed on that same page. There is no monthly admin fee, no inspection fee and no exit fee.

The claim is not that every service is bundled into a single number — very few agencies can honestly say that, and we don't. The claim is narrower and easier to check: every number is published, and nothing appears on your statement that isn't on that page. Anything outside the schedule has to be quoted and agreed in writing before it happens.

That matters more than it sounds. Most of the fee complaints landlords raise are not about the headline rate — they are about the charges nobody mentioned at signing. A schedule you can read in full before you commit removes that problem regardless of what the headline rate is.