Hi,
My first IP is a unit in Randwick area in Sydney. I am using a real estate agent as PM who charges 6.6% management fee monthly (discounted from 7.7%). They also charge $9 per month admin fee, extra standard charges related to letting fee/re-letting fee, advertising fee, tenancy database check fee, etc.
I recently had change of tenant, and so PM arranged the smoke alarm to be checked & the electrician ended up changing it and fixing a few things like light switch, change globe. And a handyman to fix a screen door. Both of these of course I paid for.
The monthly statement from PM agency has additional charges for "supervision fee" - which I challenged and it is in the management agreement where any maintenance/repairs organised by PM has 5.5% of its cost as additional fee payable by me. I mean this extra charge does not amount to that much this time around, but my query is regarding the legitimacy of the principle involved here and going forward if I have a more expensive repair bill.
My question is, whether this type of "supervision" is exactly what a PM is being paid for every month from the PM fee. Is it standard for this to be an "extra" fee? I mean for most months of the year, the PM collects 6.6% of my rental income to not do much except pay the odd bills and EFT of rental income from the tenant. I can understand paying extra for letting fees, as there is extra work involved with this, but I would consider organising tradies to come in and do maintenance (not a renovation), as being part and parcel of normal PM duties.
If this is not standard practice, could members suggest what reasonable PM % fee is for eastern suburbs and whether any recommendations for good PM in this area? Thanks for your advice and thoughts.
My first IP is a unit in Randwick area in Sydney. I am using a real estate agent as PM who charges 6.6% management fee monthly (discounted from 7.7%). They also charge $9 per month admin fee, extra standard charges related to letting fee/re-letting fee, advertising fee, tenancy database check fee, etc.
I recently had change of tenant, and so PM arranged the smoke alarm to be checked & the electrician ended up changing it and fixing a few things like light switch, change globe. And a handyman to fix a screen door. Both of these of course I paid for.
The monthly statement from PM agency has additional charges for "supervision fee" - which I challenged and it is in the management agreement where any maintenance/repairs organised by PM has 5.5% of its cost as additional fee payable by me. I mean this extra charge does not amount to that much this time around, but my query is regarding the legitimacy of the principle involved here and going forward if I have a more expensive repair bill.
My question is, whether this type of "supervision" is exactly what a PM is being paid for every month from the PM fee. Is it standard for this to be an "extra" fee? I mean for most months of the year, the PM collects 6.6% of my rental income to not do much except pay the odd bills and EFT of rental income from the tenant. I can understand paying extra for letting fees, as there is extra work involved with this, but I would consider organising tradies to come in and do maintenance (not a renovation), as being part and parcel of normal PM duties.
If this is not standard practice, could members suggest what reasonable PM % fee is for eastern suburbs and whether any recommendations for good PM in this area? Thanks for your advice and thoughts.
What should PM fees reasonably cover?
