A rental bond is an amount of money paid by a tenant as a form of security for the landlord in case the tenant does not follow the terms of the agreement.

Charging a rental bond is not mandatory, however the maximum rental bond that can be asked for is:

• four weeks rent, for unfurnished premises
• six weeks rent, for fully furnished premises with a rent of $250 or less per week
• unlimited, if the rent for fully furnished premises is more than $250 per week.

The amount of bond that is to be paid (if any) must be written on the agreement.

Demanding or receiving a written guarantee from a tenant, or somebody on their behalf, is not permitted. A rental bond must be in the form of money and not as a guarantee.

The landlord or agent must send any bond paid to the Office of Fair Trading, within 7 days. A lodgement form is needed to do this and can be obtained from any Fair Trading Centre or by calling 13 32 20. Lodgement forms cannot be downloaded from this website as they have a unique barcode.

From Tuesday 10 June 2008, the counter service previously provided by Renting Services Branch at Level 4, 234 Sussex St will be available at the Sydney Fair Trading Centre, located on the ground floor of the McKell Building, opposite Central Station on the corner of Pitt Street and Rawson Place. Customers can lodge and claim bonds in person at the Sydney Fair Trading Centre during office hours, 8.30am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

After the bond is lodged, all parties should receive an advice of lodgement that includes the unique rental bond number. If the advice is not received, the tenant should contact Fair Trading to confirm that the bond had been lodged. It is an offence for a landlord/agent to request a rental bond from their tenant and then not lodge it with Fair Trading.

During the tenancy, the bond is held by the Rental Bond Board and accumulates interest. The Rental Bond Board is the independent custodian of rental bonds paid by tenants to landlords for residential tenancies. The Office of Fair Trading administers the day to day functions of the Board, providing rental bond lodgement, custody, refund and information services.

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At the end of the tenancy, after the final inspection, a Claim for Refund of Bond Money form must be submitted to Fair Trading before the bond money can be refunded. You should not sign the form if it is blank or incomplete. The landlord or agent may want to claim some or all of the bond for themselves if they believe you have damaged the premises, breached your agreement or owe rent.

Any disagreement over how the bond is to be refunded should first be discussed between the parties.  If agreement cannot be reached, either party may send a Claim for refund of bond money form to the Office of Fair Trading without the signature of the other party. The bond will not be paid out straight away. A letter will be sent to the other party advising them of the claim and giving them 14 days to apply to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal to dispute the claim. If no reply is received within 14 days the bond will then be paid out. Tell Fair Trading your new address so we can advise you if the landlord claims your bond.

No matter who applies to the Tribunal, it is always up to the landlord to prove any claim on the bond.

If you have any questions about rental bonds, or the progress of your bond refund, call Fair Trading on 13 32 20.

Case study: Rental bond - read about Joanne and her struggle to get her bond back...

Download

Four forms relating to rental bonds are available to download in PDF format. If you have a problem opening PDFs, right click on the link with your mouse and choose ‘Save Target As’ and save the PDF on your local drive. Then open it directly from Windows Explorer (or equivalent).

Note that bond lodgement forms cannot be downloaded from this website as they have a unique barcode.

Claim for Refund of Bond Money (size: 113k)
Transfer of Bond  (size: 40k)
Change of Shared Tenancy Arrangement  (size: 37k)
Change of Managing Agent/Owner  (size: 37k)

Order online

Multiple copies of all rental bond forms (including lodgement forms) can be ordered free of charge online, along with Fair Trading publications, through www.shop.nsw.gov.au, the NSW Government's online shop.

Collect in person

All rental bond forms can be obtained free of charge from:

• any Fair Trading Centre
• most real estate agents.

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