How to rent out your property privately: a step-by-step guide.

Plenty of Australians assume that renting out a property means handing it to a property manager and giving up 7–9% of the rent for the privilege. You don’t have to. Thousands of owners advertise, lease and manage their own rentals privately — keeping the management fee and staying in control of who lives in their property and how it’s looked after. If you’re organised and you know the steps, it’s very doable.

This is the map of the whole journey, start to finish. Each stage is covered briefly here, with a link to a deeper how-to guide where it helps. Think of this as your home base for renting out privately — come back to it whenever you need the next step.

How to rent out your property: the 7 steps

Here’s the entire process at a glance. We’ll expand on the tricky bits below.

Work out the right rent. Research what comparable properties in your area are actually leasing for, and set a fair, competitive figure. Overpricing is the single most common reason a rental sits empty. → How much rent should I charge?
Prepare and photograph the property. Clean, declutter, fix the obvious, and take bright, well-lit photos. This is what makes renters stop scrolling and book an inspection.
Advertise where renters actually look. Get your listing onto realestate.com.au and Domain — the two portals nearly every renter uses. You can do this privately, without a managing agent. → Advertise your rental property
Host inspections. Offer times that suit working people (evenings and weekends), and group interested renters into an open inspection where you can — it’s efficient and creates healthy competition.
Screen and choose your tenant. Take applications, check references and tenancy databases, verify income, and choose using a calm, consistent process rather than gut feel. This is the step owners most often underestimate — there’s real work to it, but it’s the single best thing you can do to avoid a costly bad tenancy and secure a good, long-term renter. → How to screen tenants yourself
Sign the lease and lodge the bond. Use a compliant residential tenancy agreement for your state, give the tenant the documents your state requires, and lodge the bond with the relevant state bond authority — never into your own account. Get set up early: in some states (NSW, for example) registering for the online bond system means verifying your identity, which can take a few days — so do it as soon as you’ve chosen a tenant rather than at the last minute. → Digital lease agreements · Bond management
Complete an entry (move-in) condition report. Document the property’s condition in detail, with photos and dates, before the tenant moves in, and give them a copy within your state’s required timeframe. It’s your evidence if there’s ever a bond dispute at the end. → Digital condition reports

Do those seven things well and you’ve done exactly what a property manager would — without the ongoing fee.

Should you self-manage, or use a property manager?

It’s a fair question, and the honest answer is that it depends on you — not on whether self-managing is “too hard.” You wouldn’t be going out on a limb, either: around 30% of Australian landlords — roughly one in three — manage their own rental rather than using an agent.

A property manager advertises the place, screens applicants, handles the lease and bond, collects rent, organises repairs and manages the end of the tenancy. For that they typically charge a management fee of around 5% to 10% of the rent — and as much as 12% in some regional areas — plus a letting fee and assorted sundry charges. Depending on your state and agent, that’s somewhere between roughly $1,500 and $3,000 a year on a $600-a-week rental — money that stays in your pocket when you self-manage.

Self-managing means you do those jobs yourself — which, broken into the steps above, is very manageable for most owners, especially with good tenants. What it asks of you is a bit of organisation and a willingness to be reachable: respond to enquiries, sort the occasional maintenance call, keep your records straight. What you get back is that fee in your pocket and direct control over who lives in your property and how it’s looked after. Many owners find that once the tenant is in and settled, self-managing takes very little time at all.

If you’ve got a complex property, live overseas, or simply don’t want the contact, a property manager earns their fee. For most straightforward rentals, self-managing is a genuine, money-saving option — and you can always start private and bring in help later if you want to. You’re not on your own, either: minimum housing standards and tenancy rules for every state are published online, and our team is here to answer questions seven days a week.

What our team sees The landlords who have the smoothest run are the ones who get set up early and take tenant screening seriously — skipping the checks is the most common (and most expensive) first-timer mistake we see. And the best proof that self-managing works? Over the past 12 months, more than twice as many of our rental listings came from repeat landlords as from first-timers — 1,348 versus 599. People who self-manage once overwhelmingly come back and do it again, and the reason they give most often is simply that the support is there whenever they need it.

What you’ll need to rent out privately

Before you advertise, it’s worth knowing what the process requires. Here’s the checklist:

A fair market rent — researched from comparable local listings, not guessed.
A listing on the major portals — realestate.com.au and Domain, with good photos and a clear description.
A compliant lease — the correct residential tenancy agreement for your state or territory.
Bond lodgement — bonds must be lodged with your state’s bond authority within set timeframes, not held by you.
Safety compliance — smoke alarms and, in most states, minimum standards for things like electrical safety; check your state’s requirements.
Landlord insurance — not compulsory, but strongly worth having to cover loss of rent and tenant-related damage.
A move-in condition report — completed and shared with the tenant, with photos.

None of these is difficult on its own — and PropertyNow’s landlord tools handle the fiddly parts (digital leases, online bond lodgement, digital condition reports and automated rent collection) so you’re not doing it all by hand.

How long does it take?

Less time than most owners expect. In the tight 2026 rental market, a well-priced, well-presented property advertised on the major portals typically leases in about two to three weeks — and private landlords lease just as fast as agency-managed ones. In fact, you can often get to market quicker privately: with photos ready, you can be live on the portals within hours rather than waiting on an agency to onboard you. → How long does it take to rent out a property?

Once a tenant’s in: managing the tenancy

Renting out the property is the big push; managing the tenancy afterwards is usually the quiet part. Your ongoing jobs are collecting the rent, staying on top of repairs and maintenance, conducting the occasional routine inspection, and keeping good records for tax time. → EOFY checklist for self-managing landlords

When the tenancy ends, you’ll do an exit condition report, compare it against the entry report, and either refund the bond or claim against it for anything beyond fair wear and tear. Handled methodically, even this part is straightforward.

The bottom line

Renting out your property privately comes down to seven clear steps: price it right, present it well, advertise it where renters look, host inspections, screen carefully, sign a compliant lease and lodge the bond, and document the condition. Each one is manageable on its own, and you keep the management fee and stay in control throughout. Use the linked guides above as you reach each stage, and you’ll have your property leased — and well managed — without ever handing over a slice of the rent.

Frequently asked questions

Can I rent out my property without a property manager? Yes. Self-managing is completely legal and very common in Australia. You handle advertising, tenant screening, the lease and bond, rent collection and maintenance yourself — and keep the 7–9% management fee. With good tenants in place it takes little time, and tools exist to handle the admin.

How do I rent out my property step by step? Set a fair rent, prepare and photograph the property, advertise on realestate.com.au and Domain, host inspections, screen and choose a tenant, sign a compliant lease and lodge the bond, then complete a move-in condition report. Each step is covered in its own detailed guide.

How much does it cost to rent out a property privately? You avoid the ongoing management fee (typically 7–9% of rent) and any letting fees. Your main cost is advertising the property on the major portals, which a private listing service handles for a set fee rather than a percentage.

How long does it take to rent out a property? In the 2026 market, well-priced, well-presented rentals typically lease in about two to three weeks — and private landlords lease just as quickly as agency-managed ones.

Do I need landlord insurance to rent out privately? It isn’t compulsory, but it’s strongly recommended. Landlord insurance covers things standard home insurance doesn’t, like loss of rent and certain tenant-related damage.

What do I do with the bond? Bonds must be lodged with your state or territory’s bond authority within set timeframes — you can’t simply hold the money yourself. Online lodgement makes this quick.

Your renting-out toolkit

Rent it out yourself — keep the management fee

Advertise on realestate.com.au and Domain, screen tenants, sign a digital lease, lodge the bond and collect rent — all in one place. Self-manage your rental with PropertyNow and keep what a property manager would take.

List your rental

Written by the PropertyNow team. PropertyNow helps Australians advertise, lease and self-manage their own rental property privately, with licensed agent support seven days a week.

General information only. Tenancy laws, safety requirements and bond rules vary by state and territory — check your local requirements or ask our team.