Let’s not forget the flow-on effect of these costs to renters, who are increasingly noisy about rent inflation. Compliance costs create upward pressure on the costs associated with investment properties, which inevitably make their way through to the cost of renting.
Many property investors will try to absorb costs rather than increase rents and lose a good tenant. But eventually the costs reach a point where the investor has to sell or increase rents. And we talk of “investors” as if they are trying to make money out of renters. Many are not. They are making their property available for rent while they work interstate or overseas, or while they wait to sell a property that’s tied up in a deceased estate. But they can’t afford to do that if the rent doesn’t cover the expenses.