The counter argument however, is; how will Rent.com.au help landlords save all this money? For most of the charges mentioned above, I just cant see how rent.com.au will do things cheaper, better or at all:
Set-up Costs
Letting Fee 2 weeks rent plus GST
Property Condition Report $ 300.00
One off cost at the commencement of management. The ongoing report is automatically updated via the final bond
process. Cost determined by size i.e. studio apartment to executive home, photos included.
Title Search $ 24.00 per search
Audit requirement no cost if provided by owner
Tenant Reference Check $ 11.00 per adult
With the exception perhaps of the rental reference check - where RNT could provide the services - a landlord would save all these fees by self managing, but wouldn't need RNT to do so I don't think.
Ongoing Costs
Management 7.7 % of the gross collections
Final Bond Inspection $ 200.00
Cost determined by size i.e. studio apartment to executive home
Routine Inspection Reports $ 66.00
Postage and Petties $ 5.50 per month
As above, what value add will RNT provide to these services that the landlord might do on their own to save having to pay them?
Administration Costs
Lease Renewal / Negotiation $ 99.00
Annual Financial Summary $ 59.50 per report
Court Preparation & Attendance $ 165.00 per claim
Cost recoverable from most landlord insurance policies
Perhaps RNT might sell lease templates, but otherwise I expect that landlords will indeed do these tasks themselves.
Additional Charges
Professional Photography $ 150.00
One off expense photos supplied to owner
Featured Internet advertising $ 150.00 per month
Rent.com.au will certainly provide an alternative internet listing. But at the moment, landlords can pay $100 to be listed on Realestate.com.au, Domain and Rent.com.au amongst other sites!
I agree, there are lots of fees and charges listing your property with an agent. Doing the bulk of these yourself can save a landlord a significant amount of money as highlighted above.
My question though, is what value add and incentive will there be for landlords to use Rent.com.au If the view is that landlords are self-managing to save money, they will need a very compelling value proposition to pay money to a service I would expect.
Don't get me wrong - as a self managing landlord, I would love to see some kind of self-managed hosted service. Something like sharesight for realestate would be a great tool and I would probably pay an annual subscription for such a service.
I am just unsure of the approach that RNT is taking, we shall all see how it pans out in due course anyhow.
