Setting the Right Rent
Learn how to set a competitive rental price for your property and understand the legal requirements around rent increases, advertising, and handling higher offers.
Why the Right Rent Matters
Before you list your property, the most important decision you make is what rent to advertise. This shapes the quality of applicants you attract, how quickly you lease the property, and how much rent you'll earn for at least the next 12 months.
Here's what confident, successful self-managing landlords consider:
The Current Market Rate (Where to Research It)
The best way to understand the market is to look at current listings and market signals to know:
- What you're competing against
- How quickly similar homes are being snapped up
- Whether demand is rising or cooling
That's enough to set a confident, competitive advertised rent. You can use these sites to get a feel for your suburb's rental performance:
Realestate.com.au (REA)
Your primary tool. Use it to check:
- Current rental listings in your suburb
- Similar properties (beds, baths, parking, condition)
- Price ranges for comparable homes
- How long similar properties stay listed
- Whether listings are being reduced (a sign of overpricing)
- Whether listings disappear quickly (a sign of strong demand)
Rent.com.au
Great for suburb-level insights:
- Median advertised rent
- Trends over time
- Property type breakdowns
SQM Research
A powerful "market pressure" tool:
- Vacancy rates
- Weekly asking rents
- Suburb-level rental trends
The 12-Month Rent Increase Rule
Consider that you often can't increase rent for 12 months — this is the part most landlords misunderstand, and it's where you can accidentally cost yourself thousands.
The Rule
Across Australia and New Zealand, the rule is broadly: You can only increase rent once every 12 months.
But here's the nuance that most landlords miss:
That means:
- If you increase rent today, you cannot increase it again for 12 months, even if the tenant moves out or breaks lease
- If you sign a 6-month lease, you still cannot increase rent again until 12 months have passed
- The only thing that resets the clock is not having increased rent for 12 months
This is why setting the right rent matters so much.
Jurisdictions
This 12-month rule applies in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, and New Zealand.
Outliers: South Australia and Northern Territory allow rent increases once every 6 months.
Mint's Fresh Take
If you underprice now, you may be stuck with that rent for a full year — even if tenants change. Think of the advertised rent as your "anchor" for the next 12 months. Get it right now, and everything else becomes easier.
Find out more about increasing your rent on an existing tenancy agreement (guide coming soon).
Decide on Prepaid Rent and Bond Amounts
Consider how much prepaid rent to request and the bond amount. These financial protections help cover potential damages or unpaid rent. For detailed guidance, see our article on Bond & Prepaid Rent to understand best practices and legal limits.
Review Your Landlord Insurance Policy
Re-leasing the property is the best time to review your landlord insurance policy to ensure it reflects the current rent and adequately covers your property and rental risks. This can include covering loss of rent, so it's important that your policy reflects your current rent amount.
Handling Higher Offers and Legal Requirements for Advertising Rents
Advertise a Fixed Price
When advertising your rental, you must advertise a fixed price. This means the rent you list must be clear, fixed, and not misleading. You cannot advertise a range or suggest that tenants should offer more than the advertised rent.
No Rent Bidding
You are not allowed to encourage prospective tenants to offer higher rents than advertised (rent bidding). This includes avoiding any language, tactics, or behaviour that pressures or solicits higher offers, such as saying "offers above $X will be considered" or "best offer wins."
Accepting Higher Offers
Sometimes, you may receive offers above your advertised rent. In these circumstances, you can accept a higher offer before signing a tenancy agreement. However, you must not have encouraged or solicited these higher offers in your advertising or communications.
You should carefully assess the tenant's rental history, ability to pay, and suitability before accepting a higher rent.
Mint Takeaway
Setting the right rent is a balance of market knowledge, legal compliance, and strategic pricing. With the right approach, you can maximize your rental income while maintaining good tenant relationships.
- Research your market using REA, Rent.com.au, and SQM Research
- Remember the 12-month rent increase rule applies to the property
- Set your initial rent carefully — you'll be locked in for 12 months
- Always advertise a fixed rent price
- Never encourage higher offers through advertising or communication
- You can accept higher offers that come to you naturally
- Review your landlord insurance to match your new rent amount