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Rental Guarantee & Rent Care

Rental Guarantee & PIA Rent Care

Two Ways to Make Sure the Rent Actually Arrives

One fixes your rental income for years, vacant or not. The other keeps your cash flow intact when a tenant falls behind. You choose one — not both.

Rental income fails in two different ways. It can underperform slowly — a vacancy here, a lapsed rent review there, a month between tenants. Or it can stop suddenly, when a tenant stops paying. PIA has a separate, purpose-built solution for each. Both are optional paid services, sitting on top of the management your Service Agreement already covers.

OPTION ONE - PIA Rental Guarantee
OPTION TWO - PIA Rent Care
Rental Guarantee vs PIA Rent Care
OPTION ONE

PIA Rental Guarantee — Your Rent, Fixed in Advance

Launched 17 years ago and now in its third version, the Rental Guarantee is a fixed-term agreement between you and PIA. We assess what your property should earn, agree a Fixed Weekly Guaranteed Rent, and pay it for the length of the term — tenanted, vacant or in arrears, subject to the allowances in your schedule.

Your property is fully managed by PIA’s in-house team throughout. Tenant turnover, arrears, re-letting and market swings become our problem to solve, not a variable in your income.

Who Chooses the Rental Guarantee

Owners who want stable, hands-off income rather than an active management project.

Investors stretched across several properties who don't want the variability.

Landlords holding in competitive or fluctuating rental markets.

Interstate and overseas owners who need trusted, ongoing professional support on the ground.

How It Works

Step 1

We agree the number. A PIA inspector assesses the property and management set a Fixed Weekly Guaranteed Rent against a defined term — typically 52, 104 or 156 weeks.

Step 2

We lease and manage it. PIA's in-house team markets, tenants and manages the property to the same Service Agreement standards as every other PIA property.

Step 3

You're paid the fixed rent. The same amount every week for the term — tenanted, vacant or in arrears — subject to the vacancy allowances set out in your schedule.

Step 4

We absorb the turnover. Re-letting, arrears, tribunal and soft-market periods become PIA's cost to carry, not a variable in your income.

How It Works

Step 1

We agree the number. A PIA inspector assesses the property and management set a Fixed Weekly Guaranteed Rent against a defined term — typically 52, 104 or 156 weeks.

Step 2

We lease and manage it. PIA's in-house team markets, tenants and manages the property to the same Service Agreement standards as every other PIA property.

Step 3

You're paid the fixed rent. The same amount every week for the term — tenanted, vacant or in arrears — subject to the vacancy allowances set out in your schedule.

Step 4

We absorb the turnover. Re-letting, arrears, tribunal and soft-market periods become PIA's cost to carry, not a variable in your income.

How PIA Sets Your Guaranteed Rent

The guaranteed figure isn’t a discount off market rent — it’s a position PIA has to stand behind for years.  Six inputs decide it:

Recent comparable rental listings and, more importantly, what has actually leased nearby.

A margin for the vacancy periods, arrears and lease transitions PIA expects to absorb across the term.

Size, layout, age, natural light and overall presentation — all of which affect rentability, and any upgrade that lifts the rent value.

If the property is already leased: the current rent, the tenant's payment record and the lease expiry.

Proximity to transport, shops, schools and amenity, alongside suburb trends, rental demand, vacancy rates and time on market.

The figure is set against a specific term — 52, 104 or 156 weeks — with a Fixed Vacancy Rate and Initial Vacancy Allowance matched to it.

Your figure, term and allowances are set out in full in the Schedule of Agreement.

How to Start

Step 1

Submit your interest — the property details and the term you're after.

Step 2

Book an inspection with a PIA inspector.

Step 3

Receive your offer and sign — the Exclusive Agency Agreement and the Rental Guarantee Agreement — and the term begins.

Download the Rental Guarantee Overview
Register Your Interest
OPTION TWO

PIA Rent Care — Stay Paid on Time, Even If Your Tenant Isn't

Rent Care is a subscription from $2 a week. If your tenant falls into arrears, the PIA Rent Care pays you the rent you’re owed on the normal monthly cycle — and PIA takes on the job of recovering it from the tenant.

Nothing about your tenancy changes. You keep your tenant, your lease and your rent. What changes is that a tenant’s cash-flow problem stops becoming your cash-flow problem.

What You Actually Get

You receive your rent on the normal monthly cycle whether or not the tenant has paid it.

The income gap arrears normally create never reaches you, so loan repayments, levies and rates stay covered.

The Rent Care Fund is PIA's own system. Payment doesn't wait on an insurer's assessment — no waiting period, no claims process to run first.

Cover starts on subscription and runs inside your existing management. PIA chases the tenant, serves the notices and attends the tribunal. You do none of it.

Who Chooses Rent Care

Landlords whose rent covers a mortgage or other fixed monthly commitments.

Owners who are happy with their tenancy and simply can't absorb a month with no rent.

Investors holding several properties, where one set of arrears unsettles the whole portfolio's cash flow.

Landlords who want arrears chased properly without running any of it themselves.

How It Works

Step 1

Under the Service Agreement, PIA is already chasing arrears every three days.

Step 2

Before the 25th, PIA notifies the Rent Care Fund of the property, the tenancy and the amount outstanding.

Step 3

The Fund transfers the arrears into the trust account, credited to your ledger.

Step 4

You’re paid on or about the 25th on your normal monthly disbursement — as if the rent had come in.

How It Works

Step 1

Your tenant falls behind. Under the Service Agreement, PIA is already chasing arrears every three days.

Step 2

Before the 25th, PIA notifies the Rent Care Fund of the property, the tenancy and the amount outstanding.

Step 3

The Fund transfers the arrears into the trust account, credited to your ledger.

Step 4

You're paid on or about the 25th on your normal monthly disbursement — as if the rent had come in.

How PIA Recovers the Arrears

Once your Rent Care payment has been made, PIA manages the recovery process from there. Six things happen — none of them land on your desk:

PIA continues chasing the outstanding rent directly, on the same arrears cycle.

Where the arrears warrant it, notices are served on time and to the correct form.

PIA prepares the case and appears at NCAT on your behalf. You don't attend.

Where your landlord policy responds, PIA lodges and manages the claim.

PIA deals with the Rental Bond Board on the disbursement of the bond.

Any recovered amount is handled in line with the PIA Rent Care. Rent Care protects the timing of your income, while PIA manages the recovery process.

The maximum Rent Care amount and full recovery provisions are set out in the Rent Care Agreement.

How to Start

Your figure, term and allowances are set out in full in the Schedule of Agreement.

Step 1

Check you qualify — a PIA Managing Agency Agreement, an active tenancy, and current landlord insurance from a PIA-approved insurer.

Step 2

Subscribe from $2 a week, charged annually and deducted on your normal monthly statement.

Step 3

Cover starts automatically and runs for 12 months, renewing unless you give 30 days' written notice.

Download the Rental Guarantee Overview
Register Your Interest
Side by Side

Which One Is Yours?

Two services, two very different jobs. Read across before you read down.

Rental Guarantee
PIA Rent Care
In one line
A fixed weekly rent, paid by PIA for the whole term — tenanted, vacant or in arrears.
Your rent still lands each month when your tenant falls behind, while PIA chases the arrears.
The problem it solves
Income uncertainty — vacancy, turnover, soft markets or underperformance.
Cash - flow interruption — a paying tenant who stops paying.
Covers vacancy
Yes — beyond the agreed vacancy allowances.
No — it covers arrears on an active tenancy.
Covers arrears
Yes — your rent is fixed regardless of what the tenant does.
Yes — up to the maximum amount set in your schedule.
What you receive
A Fixed Weekly Guaranteed Rent, agreed before you sign.
Your actual rent, topped up from the Rent Care Fund when the tenant is behind.
Term
Fixed term — typically 52, 104 or 156 weeks.
Rolling 12 months, auto - renewing unless you give 30 days’ notice.
Cost
A one - off plan cost — the longer the term, the lower it is.
A subscription from $2 a week.
You must also have
A PIA Exclusive Agency Agreement, PIA - approved landlord insurance and a lease - ready property.
A PIA Managing Agency Agreement, PIA - approved landlord insurance and an active tenancy.
Best if you
Want certainty you can budget against and a genuinely hands - off asset.
Are happy with your tenancy and simply cannot afford a month with no rent.

Rental Guarantee

In one line A fixed weekly rent, paid by PIA for the whole term — tenanted, vacant or in arrears.
The problem it solves Income uncertainty — vacancy, turnover, soft markets or underperformance.
Covers vacancy ✓ Yes — beyond the agreed vacancy allowances.
Covers arrears ✓ Yes — your rent is fixed regardless of what the tenant does.
What you receive A Fixed Weekly Guaranteed Rent, agreed before you sign.
Term Fixed term — typically 52, 104 or 156 weeks.
Cost A one - off plan cost — the longer the term, the lower it is.
You must also have A PIA Exclusive Agency Agreement, PIA - approved landlord insurance and a lease - ready property.
Best if you Want certainty you can budget against and a genuinely hands - off asset.

PIA Rent Care

In one line Your rent still lands each month when your tenant falls behind, while PIA chases the arrears.
The problem it solves Cash - flow interruption — a paying tenant who stops paying.
Covers vacancy ✕ No — it covers arrears on an active tenancy.
Covers arrears ✓ Yes — up to the maximum amount set in your schedule.
What you receive Your actual rent, topped up from the Rent Care Fund when the tenant is behind.
Term Rolling 12 months, auto - renewing unless you give 30 days’ notice.
Cost A subscription from $2 a week.
You must also have A PIA Managing Agency Agreement, PIA - approved landlord insurance and an active tenancy.
Best if you Are happy with your tenancy and simply cannot afford a month with no rent.

The two services are separate and are not used together. Terms, allowances and limits are set out in full in each agreement.

Common Questions

Before You Ask Us

No. They’re separate services solving different problems, and they aren’t used together. The Rental Guarantee already fixes your income regardless of arrears, so Rent Care would have nothing left to cover.

Neither. Both are optional, separately priced services that sit on top of the management your PIA Service Agreement already covers. The Service Agreement’s 14 guarantees apply to every PIA-managed property at no extra cost — these two are different products entirely.

No — and both services actually require you to hold PIA-approved landlord insurance. Insurance responds to damage and to a tenancy that has broken down. These services respond to the timing and certainty of your income. They’re designed to work together.

Usually somewhat, and deliberately so. The guaranteed figure carries a risk and vacancy buffer, because PIA — not you — is absorbing turnover, arrears and soft-market periods for the whole term. What you’re comparing isn’t market rent versus guaranteed rent; it’s a variable, best-case number against a fixed, certain one.

You’re paid on the normal monthly cycle from the Fund while PIA pursues recovery through the tenant, the bond, the tribunal and your insurance. Where recovery falls short of what the Fund advanced, that shortfall is repaid to the Fund — so Rent Care protects your cash flow rather than guaranteeing the rent itself. If that’s what you’re after, the Rental Guarantee is the right product.

Terms are typically 52, 104 or 156 weeks. Longer terms cost less, because they give PIA more time to absorb turnover across the guarantee.

Talk to your asset manager before you list. The guarantee is a fixed-term agreement, and how it’s handled on a sale depends on the term remaining and whether the buyer takes it on — a fixed, documented rental figure is often an asset in the sale, not an obstacle.

See How the Rental Guarantee Works >
See What the Service Agreement Covers as Standard

Get Started

Pick the Certainty You Actually Need.

Fix your income for years, or make sure it lands every month.

Tell us which problem you’re solving and we’ll tell you which one fits — or whether you need neither.

Download the Rental Guarantee Overview
Apply for Rental Protection
Speak to Your Asset Manager

Choose what matters most to you

The PIA Service Agreement
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Who This Is Designed For

Designed for landlords who want more control, consistency, and performance from their property.

Particularly valuable for:

  • Landlords who rely on rental income to meet financial commitments

  • Landlords looking to reduce exposure to vacancy or arrears risk

  • Property owners seeking a structured, hands-off approach

  • Landlords focused on long-term portfolio stability

With both income and cash flow protected, you can focus on growing your portfolio — while PIA manages the risk.

Apply for Rental Protection
Speak to Your Asset Manager
WHY IT EXISTS

Most Landlords Insure the Building.
Almost Nobody Insures the Income.

1

Your mortgage, your strata levies, your council rates and your insurance premiums arrive on a fixed schedule. Your rent doesn’t. It pauses between tenants, it drops when a lease turns over in a soft month, and it stops entirely when a tenant falls into arrears — usually with no warning and no fixed end date.

1

Your mortgage, your strata levies, your council rates and your insurance premiums arrive on a fixed schedule. Your rent doesn’t. It pauses between tenants, it drops when a lease turns over in a soft month, and it stops entirely when a tenant falls into arrears — usually with no warning and no fixed end date.

1

Your mortgage, your strata levies, your council rates and your insurance premiums arrive on a fixed schedule. Your rent doesn’t. It pauses between tenants, it drops when a lease turns over in a soft month, and it stops entirely when a tenant falls into arrears — usually with no warning and no fixed end date.

"Through COVID-19, PIA paid out AUD $16 million in rental guarantees to landlords. The point of a guarantee is what it does in the year nobody planned for."

Both services are optional and separately priced. Neither is included as standard, and neither replaces landlord insurance.