Content
Rental Bonds are currently experiencing higher than normal work levels resulting in delays of up to two weeks. Rental bonds are working to clear the backlogs and apologise for any inconvenience.
Rental Bonds (RB) is part of the Office of Regulatory Services (ORS). The ORS is responsible for the receipt and management of Residential Tenancy Rental Bonds for the Australian Capital Territory. The main areas of activity include:
lodgement and receipt of rental bonds;
refund of rental bonds;
referral to the Residential Tenancy Tribunal regarding a dispute over a refund of a rental bond;
transfer of tenants on a rental bond;
transfer of bond between properties; and,
training of real estate agents on the requirements of the ORS.
Agents/lessors are not required by law to take a bond from the tenant. However if an agent/lessor does receive a bond from a tenant, they are required under division 3, clauses 23-25 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to lodge the bond with the ORS. Lessors must lodge the bond within two weeks of receipt of the bond and Managing Agents are required to lodge the bond within four weeks of receiving the bond.
Bonds can be any amount not exceeding the first four weeks rent. Agents/lessors must give the tenant a receipt as proof of payment of bond.
Bonds may be lodged at the ORS counter or by mail. Bonds can be paid in the form of cash, cheque or an Australia Post money order. If lodging a bond over the counter, you may also pay by electronic funds transfer (including direct debit, MasterCard, Visa Card). Cheques should be made payable to the Office of Rental Bonds. Alternatively, the Bond Lodgement form has a provision for credit card details. Bond Lodgement forms with credit card details can be lodged at the counter, by mail and/or by faxing the form to (02) 62071181.
Agents/lessors may lodge multiple bonds using one cheque, providing the total of the cheque equals the total amount of the bonds lodged and the lessor/agent is the same for each premises. Transfers cannot be included as part of a bulk bond lodgement.
Bonds must be accompanied by a completed Bond Lodgement Form which are available from the ORS and on this site. The bond lodgement form must contain the signatures of all interested parties. These signatures will be required when a claim for refund of bond is lodged in order to verify that the claimants are those on the original bond form.
The Bond Lodgement Form should not include children or any person who has not contributed to the bond.
More information about rental bonds in the A.C.T. can be found in the Residential Tenancy Rental Bonds in the A.C.T. - Fact Sheet .
All bonds (money) that is received by lessor/agents are required by the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to be lodged with the ORS.
All complaints of non-lodgement of bonds by agents are investigated by the Compliance Area of Fair Trading, which is part of ORS.
If the lessor has not lodged a bond, the tenant can contact the A.C.T. Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT).
Lessor/Agents or Tenants can make an application to the ORS to have the bond refunded. An application for refund of the bond is usually made after the completion of the tenancy.
Applications can be made before a tenancy has been completed if:
the application is made jointly by the lessor and the tenant,
the application is made by the lessor to be paid to the tenant,
the application is made by the tenant to be paid by the lessor, or
the A.C.T. Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) orders the full or part of the bond be paid to either party.
To apply for a refund of bond you should complete a Refund of Bond form. To ensure that the form that you submit is valid you need to complete the following:
enter the address of the rental property;
enter the amount each party will be receiving as a refund, if any. If either party is not receiving a refund then "nil" should be placed in the corresponding parties box;
complete the tenant's forwarding address details and contact telephone numbers. Each tenant MUST sign the claim form under their forwarding address details. If the tenant wants their portion of the bond refunded by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) in to their bank account, they will need to fill in the account details in the space provided next to their forwarding address details; and,
the lessor/agent is required to provide their contact details and sign in the signature box. If the lessor/agent is receiving part or all of the bond they can include their account details in the space provided for the ORS to electronically transfer the bond into the nominated account.
DO NOT SIGN A REFUND OF BOND FORM IF THE “REFUND DETAILS” SECTION HAS NOT BEEN COMPLETED. PLEASE ENSURE THERE ARE AMOUNTS LISTED IN THIS SECTION PRIOR TO SIGNING.
THE ORS WILL PAY UPON RECEIPT OF THE FIRST VALIDLY COMPLETED CLAIM FORM. UNFORTUNATELY, ONCE A CLAIM FORM HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT A REVISED VERSION FROM THE SAME PARTY.
The ORS will only process a claim upon receipt of a validly completed Refund of Bond form . If a mistake is made when completing the form, do not use whiteout or liquid paper to alter the form. You should strike through any incorrect details, write the correct information above or below, and have the alterations initialled by all parties, or complete a fresh form.
Where a party to a Bond has died, a claim for the refund of a Bond may be made after proving entitlement either as beneficiary or executor.
A legal practitioner, acting on behalf of the estate or family of a deceased person, may make application for the refund of a Bond by lodging a Refund of Bond form.
Either the beneficiary, or the executor in the will of the deceased, may claim in place of the deceased by providing a copy of the death certificate and the will.
Where a person dies without leaving a will (intestate), any entitlement to a Bond may be claimed by the person appointed as administrator of the estate. An administrator should provide evidence of their appointment.
Where no administrator has been appointed, application may be made as follows:
By the spouse (or de facto) or children of the deceased. De facto applications will be considered where evidence (by statutory declaration) is provided that the person has been in a relationship with the deceased for two years or more, or is the parent of the child of the deceased;
In the absence of a spouse or children, by the parents of the deceased;
If the deceased is not survived by a spouse, children or parents, brothers or sisters of the deceased may make application for refund.
The claims for refund of a deceased estate are to be completed in the same way as explained in "How to lodge a claim for refund of a bond".
Where a party to a Bond is declared bankrupt, the assignee of trustee of the bankrupt may make application on their behalf.
Upon making application, evidence of the appointment of the assignee or trustee should be provided.
When signing a claim - the assignee or trustee in bankruptcy should sign their name followed by the words "assignee or trustee on behalf of the bankrupt lessor (name) or tenant (name)".
If the Agent/Lessor and Tenant/s cannot agree on how a bond should be refunded the Tenant/s or Agent/Lessor may lodged their own claim for the bond with the ORS.
Under section 33 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (the Act), where an application is made to refund bond money, (other than a joint application) the ORS must give written notice of the receipt of the application to the tenant/s or the Agent/Lessor. For example, when a refund form that is not a joint application is submitted by an Agent/Lessor, the ORS will give written notice to the tenant/s.
Note : An application for the release of bond by a Lessor/Agent for payment to the tenant/s, or by the tenant for payment to the Lessor/Agent of the total amount of the bond, or an application made by the tenant/s and Lessor/Agent jointly are not subject to section 33 of the Act.
Tenant/s or Agent/Lessor who are given notice of an application for the refund of bond under section 33 must notify the ORS in writing within 2 weeks of their intention to dispute the refund of the bond money. If the ORS does not receive notification of their intention to dispute the refund of bond within the prescribed time, the ORS will refund the bond in accordance with the first application. Where there is more than one tenant on a bond, the funds are refunded to the tenants in equal shares.
If a party disputes the refund, this office will refund the undisputed portion, and refer the matter concerning the disputed amount to the A.C.T. Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) in accordance with section 35 of the Act. The ORS will notify both parties of the fact that the matter has been referred to the ACAT.
The disputed portion of the bond can be refunded at any time with a competed Refund of Bond form signed by all parties.
Transferring a bond between tenants
Tenants frequently leave tenancies/premises and it has been difficult to manage the process of tenant/s leaving and new tenant/s becoming part of the original tenancy. The simplest way of managing this process is to refund the bond to all parties and start a new tenancy agreement which involves refunding the current bond and lodging a new bond.
Before a transfer can take place the incoming tenant/s, the outgoing tenant/s and the lessor/agent need to reach an agreement to have tenancy modified in this way. Some lessors/agents are not willing to have this process take place.
For a transfer to occur all tenants both incoming tenant/s and the outgoing tenant/s need to provide the lessor/agent with a completed and signed Transfer of Tenants form. This document is evidence that the tenant/s have changed and that the new tenant/s have full entitlement to the bond. There is an assumption that any entitlement to the bond by the outgoing tenant/s has been dealt with before the Transfer of Tenant form is lodged.
SPECIAL NOTE: It is the outgoing tenant/s responsibility to ensure that they have been paid their full entitlement to the bond by the incoming tenant/s. Once the Transfer of Bond Form is lodged, the new tenant/s have full entitlement to the bond.
Transferring a bond between properties
Another situation that often occurs where tenants move into a new property and would prefer that the bond automatically transfer to the new property. This can only occur if the property is managed by the same lessor/agent as the original property. It will be necessary for the tenant and the lessor to complete a Transfer of Premises form and lodge the form with the ORS. The office will then essentially refund the original bond and pay the amount into the new bond for the new property.
Property managers who represent an agency often change. In order for the ORS to be aware of who has the authority to act on behalf of a Real Estate Agency relating to a bond, each agency is required to submit an Agent Signature Authority form whenever there is a change in property management team. It is also important that each new Agent Signature Authority is signed off by an appropriately authorised person within the agency (ie, the Principal).
Tenant/s often leave a tenancy prior to being paid their entitlement to a bond. This may be due to a dispute or simply the tenant leaving the property to lease another.
Agents and lessees are encouraged to complete a Tenant Forwarding Address Form when a tenant is leaving a tenancy, without the bond entitlement being finalised, and lodge the form with the ORS.
The ORS can then easily make contact with the tenant/s if necessary. This may be to forward correspondence regarding the tenancy or a cheque in payment of an entitlement.
Top
