The short answer: Most of the running costs of an Adelaide rental are deductible in the year you pay them: loan interest, council rates, water and sewerage charges, land tax, the Emergency Services Levy, insurance, property management fees, repairs, maintenance and advertising. Borrowing costs, building works and appliances over $300 are claimed over several years. The purchase price, stamp duty on the transfer, your own travel and your own labour are not deductible at all.
We manage more than 600 Adelaide rentals, and every July the same questions come back. This guide answers them from the Australian Taxation Office’s own rental pages and RevenueSA’s current thresholds.
General information as at October 2026, not tax advice. Every rule links to the ATO or RevenueSA page it came from. Your position depends on your loan, your ownership share and how the property is used, so confirm it with a registered tax agent.
What you can claim in the year you pay it
The ATO’s list of common property expenses you can claim immediately, provided the home is rented or genuinely available to rent:
- Interest on the loan used to buy the property or pay for its repairs. Not the principal, and not the share of a loan used for something private such as a car (ATO: interest expenses).
- Council rates, water charges, land tax and the Emergency Services Levy. In South Australia the owner pays the SA Water supply and sewerage charges. Water use can be passed to the tenant where the home is separately metered and the lease provides for it, and you cannot claim a cost the tenant paid.
- Insurance: building, contents, public liability and loss of rent. Our guide to landlord insurance in South Australia explains each cover.
- Property agent’s fees and commission: the management fee, the letting fee, inspection fees and admin charges. The figures are below.
- Repairs and maintenance for wear and damage that happened while the home was rented. The line between a repair and an improvement has its own section below.
- Advertising for tenants, cleaning, gardening, lawn mowing and pest control.
- Body corporate administrative fund fees, and legal costs of evicting a non-paying tenant or recovering lost rent.
Costs that relate only to renting the home out, such as commission and advertising, never need apportioning. Holding costs do if the home was rented for only part of the year or you used it yourself (ATO: how to claim rental expenses).
What the agent’s fees come to on an Adelaide rent
The median rent for a house leased in metropolitan Adelaide in the June quarter 2026 was $620 a week, or $32,240 a year (SA Housing Trust, Private Rent Report). On that rent, a year of Wemark’s property management fee schedule looks like this, and every line is a rental expense on the ATO’s list:
| Fee | Rate | A year on $620 a week |
|---|---|---|
| Management fee | 6.6% of rent collected, including GST | $2,128 |
| Routine inspections | $33 each, up to four a year | $132 |
| Admin | $12 a month | $144 |
| Ongoing total | $2,404 | |
| Letting fee, only in a year a new tenant is placed | 1.5 weeks’ rent plus GST | $1,023 |
| Statements, maintenance handling, exit | $0 | $0 |
Our guide to property management fees in Adelaide compares this with the 9% to 11% most agencies charge. Both are deductible. One is smaller.
What you claim over several years
Borrowing expenses
Loan establishment fees, lender’s mortgage insurance, the lender’s valuation and title search fees, broker fees, stamp duty on the mortgage and the solicitor’s fee for the loan documents. If they total more than $100, you claim them over five years or the term of the loan, whichever is shorter. Stamp duty on the transfer of the property and your conveyancer’s fee are not borrowing expenses; they go into the capital gains cost base (ATO: borrowing expenses).
Capital works
The building, extensions, a new fence, carport, driveway, retaining wall or renovated room: claimed at 2.5% a year over 40 years (4% over 25 for some buildings), only for construction after 17 July 1985, and only once the work is finished (ATO: capital expenses). Most post-war homes in suburbs such as Blair Athol and Kilburn were built before 1985, so the original structure usually carries no claim; the extensions and the new homes replacing them often do.
Depreciating assets
Carpets, blinds, appliances, air conditioners, hot water systems and furniture. An item costing $300 or less is claimed in full in the year you install it. Anything more is claimed over its effective life, and items under $1,000 can go into a low-value pool (ATO: depreciating assets).
The rule that catches buyers of established homes: in most cases you cannot claim second-hand depreciating assets acquired after 1 July 2017. The oven, carpet and split systems that came with an existing house are not deductible to you, though new items you buy are. A quantity surveyor’s depreciation schedule, prepared when you buy, keeps this straight.
Repair, improvement or initial repair?
This is where most mistakes happen, and the ATO’s repairs and maintenance page is specific about it.
| Work | How it is claimed |
|---|---|
| Replacing a cracked window pane, part of a gutter or part of a fence | Repair: in full this year |
| Repainting faded walls, oiling a deck, servicing the plumbing | Maintenance: in full this year |
| Rendering the exterior, replacing a fibro wall with a brick feature wall | Improvement: capital works at 2.5% a year |
| Replacing a whole toilet, the kitchen cupboards or the entire roof | Replacing an entirety: capital works |
| Replacing a whole hot water system or air conditioner | Depreciating asset: over its effective life |
| Fixing damage that was already there when you bought | Initial repair: capital, not an immediate deduction |
Two points landlords miss. If you do the work yourself you can claim the materials but not your labour. And when a job mixes repair and improvement, ask for an itemised invoice so the repair portion can be separated. Every maintenance job we arrange is recorded against the property with the invoice attached, and we charge nothing to arrange it.
What you cannot claim
- Buying and selling costs: the price, stamp duty on the transfer, conveyancing and the selling commission. These reduce your capital gain when you sell.
- Travel to inspect the property, collect rent or meet your agent. Since 1 July 2017 an individual investor cannot claim it (ATO: travel expenses). A manager’s inspection fee is deductible.
- Second-hand depreciating assets that came with an established home, your own labour, costs the tenant paid, and any period or loan share that was private.
Land tax in South Australia
Land tax is deductible, but the ATO wants it claimed in the income year the liability relates to, not the year you pay it. RevenueSA assesses it on the total taxable site value of all the land you own in the state, so two modest rentals can together cross a threshold that neither would alone. The 2026–27 general rates are:
| Total taxable site value | Land tax |
|---|---|
| Up to $936,000 | Nil |
| $936,000 to $1,504,000 | $0.50 per $100 above $936,000 |
| $1,504,000 to $2,188,000 | $2,840 plus $1.00 per $100 above $1,504,000 |
| $2,188,000 to $3,504,000 | $9,680 plus $2.00 per $100 above $2,188,000 |
| Over $3,504,000 | $36,000 plus $2.40 per $100 above $3,504,000 |
Site value is the land alone, not the house on it. Land held in a trust is taxed from $25,000 at different rates.
The records that make the claim stand up
The ATO asks you to keep rental records for five years from when you lodge the return, from your last decline-in-value claim, or from the point no capital gains event can occur, whichever is later (ATO: records for rental properties). That means agent statements, loan statements, land tax, council, SA Water and levy notices, receipts, and before-and-after photos of capital works. Our landlords receive an end-of-financial-year statement each July at no charge, covering everything paid through us. It does not include your interest or anything you paid directly, so keep those alongside it.
One thing to watch: the ATO’s rental pages note that negative gearing changes announced in the 2026–27 Federal Budget do not apply to the 2025–26 return. If you are negatively geared, ask your accountant what they mean for the year after.
Common questions
Are property management fees tax deductible?
Yes. The ATO lists property agent’s fees and commission among the rental expenses you can claim in the year you incur them. That covers the management fee, the letting fee, inspection fees and admin charges, provided the property is rented or genuinely available for rent.
Is land tax deductible on a South Australian investment property?
Yes. The ATO says you can claim land tax on a property that earns rent, in the income year the liability relates to rather than the year you pay it. In 2026–27 RevenueSA’s general threshold is $936,000 of total taxable site value across everything you own.
Can I claim travel to inspect my Adelaide rental?
No. Since 1 July 2017 an individual investor cannot claim travel to inspect, maintain or collect rent for a residential rental property. Only businesses of letting and certain entities such as companies can.
Sources: Australian Taxation Office rental property pages, last updated between 21 May and 23 July 2026. RevenueSA, land tax rates and thresholds 2026–27. Rent: SA Housing Trust, Private Rent Report, June quarter 2026. Fees as at October 2026. General information, not tax advice.
Want the fee schedule in writing for your own property? Book a free rental appraisal, run the numbers in our rental yield calculator, or call (08) 7200 1444.