Charging a bond
If the landlord charges a bond they must lodge it with Tenancy Services within 23 working days.
When landlords must lodge the bond
Landlords who charge a bond:
- must lodge it with Tenancy Services within 23 working days of receiving it. This applies whether you send the bond in full or in instalments.
- must give the tenant a receipt.
Make sure you fill out the forms correctly or we won’t be able to lodge your bond. This may also cause delays when applying for a refund.
In a boarding house tenancy, if the bond is one week’s rent or less it doesn’t have to be lodged.
Maximum bond
A bond can be up to the equivalent of 4 weeks’ rent. Other forms of security are not allowed, but a landlord may ask for a guarantor’s agreement.
Increasing or decreasing bond
If the landlord increases the rent they may ask the tenant to pay additional bond in line with the increase.
For example: the tenant has paid a bond equivalent to 3 weeks’ rent and weekly rent goes up by $10 - this means the landlord can request an extra $30 to be paid to the bond.
You can only request the extra bond payment for a current rent increase. The extra bond payment can’t cover previous rent increases where an extra bond was not requested at the time.
Once the tenant pays the extra bond, it must be lodged with Tenancy Services within 23 working days.
If the rent decreases and the total bond is now more than 4 week’s rent, the tenant can apply to have the extra bond refunded.
Bonds on properties leased by Community Housing Providers
There are several issues that need to be considered regarding bonds on properties leased by Community Housing Providers from property owners. For more information, visit:
Preventing problems with bonds
Signatures
The people who sign the bond refund form must be the same as the people who signed the bond lodgement form. If these signatures do not match there may be delays in refunding the bond.
