Self-Managing Your Canberra Investment Property vs Hiring a Property Manager — The Real Cost Comparison
Thinking about self-managing your Canberra rental? Jaira Properties breaks down the real costs, time commitment, and risks — so you can make an informed decision.
Every Canberra landlord faces the same question at some point: is it worth paying a property manager, or should I just handle it myself?
On the surface, self-managing looks like an easy way to save $2,000 to $3,000 a year in management fees. But the real calculation is more nuanced than that. This article lays out the full picture so you can make the decision that is right for your situation.
What self-managing actually involves
Before weighing the costs, it helps to understand what property management actually requires. When you self-manage, you are responsible for every aspect of the tenancy, including advertising the vacancy and processing applications, conducting reference and tenancy database checks, preparing a legally compliant tenancy agreement under the ACT Residential Tenancies Act 1997, completing ingoing condition reports with photographic evidence, collecting and lodging the bond with the ACT Revenue Office, conducting routine inspections (up to four per year), managing all maintenance requests and coordinating tradespeople, serving compliant rent increase notices with the correct notice period, handling lease renewals and rent reviews, managing arrears and issuing breach notices in the correct format, attending ACAT if a dispute arises, and completing outgoing condition reports and bond refund assessments at the end of the tenancy.
This is not a passive income stream. It is a part-time job.
The time cost
Research by the Property Management industry consistently shows that actively managing a single rental property takes between four and ten hours per month depending on the property, tenancy, and number of maintenance issues. Over a full year that is 50 to 120 hours — time that has a real value whether you bill it or not.
For most Canberra landlords who are full-time professionals, that time is worth considerably more than the management fee they would pay a specialist.
The compliance cost of getting it wrong
The ACT has some of Australia's most detailed tenancy legislation. Errors in documentation, incorrect notice periods, or missed compliance obligations can result in a breach notice from Access Canberra, an adverse finding at ACAT, or — in serious cases — financial penalties.
Common and costly self-managing mistakes in the ACT include serving a rent increase notice with insufficient notice period, failing to provide a Unit Title Rental Certificate (required since January 2025 for units and apartments), using a tenancy agreement template that does not comply with current ACT legislation, missing the window to claim bond deductions correctly, and failing to lodge the bond with the ACT Revenue Office within the required timeframe.
None of these errors are catastrophic in isolation. But each one can cost you more than a year of management fees to resolve.
The vacancy cost
One of the most significant and least discussed costs of self-managing is vacancy. A professional property manager with an established tenant database, active relationships with relocation agents, and knowledge of current Canberra market conditions will typically lease a property faster than a self-managing landlord advertising on a single portal.
On a $700 per week property, every additional week of vacancy costs $700. Two extra weeks of vacancy more than wipes out several months of management fees.
What a property manager actually costs — and what you get
At Jaira Properties, our management fee is 7.5% of weekly rent including GST — no hidden administration charges, no statement fees, no markups on tradespeople. On a $700 per week property, that is $52.50 per week, or approximately $2,730 per year.
For that fee you receive proactive rent reviews, legally compliant documentation, routine inspections with written reports, 24-hour maintenance coordination, access to our trusted tradesperson network at no markup, representation at ACAT if required, full trust accounting with monthly statements, and a dedicated point of contact who knows your property and your tenants by name.
So when does self-managing make sense?
Self-managing can work if you have a background in property or tenancy law, you live close to the property, you have reliable tradespeople available, you genuinely have the time and enjoy the administrative work, and you are comfortable managing any conflict with tenants directly.
For most Canberra investors — particularly those with full-time careers, multiple properties, or properties at a distance — the risk-adjusted return on professional management is strongly positive.
Find out what Jaira can do for your investment
If you are currently self-managing and wondering whether it is still the right call, we are happy to have an honest conversation. Contact us for a free rental appraisal and we will give you a straight comparison of what your property is currently achieving versus what it could achieve under professional management.
Jaira Properties — Canberra's property management specialists. ACT Licence No. 18404216.
Disclaimer: Fee examples and time estimates are indicative only and will vary based on individual circumstances.