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:
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.
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 ACT 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:
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:
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:
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 cannot agree on how a bond should be refunded, each party may lodge their own claim for the bond with the ORS.
When our office has received the first claim we will write to the other party advising that a claim has been lodged. They will then have two weeks to respond to that letter.
If the office has not received a response, then the bond will be paid out according to the first claim form that the ORS had received. This will only be done after the two week period as prescribed by the Act has expired.
If the second party lodges a claim within the two week period that does not agree with the first claim received, ORS will pay out any money that is not in dispute. The disputed amount will remain with our office.
The ORS will then refer the dispute to the A.C.T. Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT), for a determination. ORS will also 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 completed Refund of Bond form signed by both parties.
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. Another way of achieving this without a new bond being lodged is to arrange for the transfer of the bond on paper between the tenant/s leaving the tenancy and the new tenant/s coming into the tenancy. This can be achieved by the completion and lodgement of a Transfer of Tenants form.
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. Once the lessor/agent has received this form, they need to lodge it with the ORS.
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.
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.
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