Getting your bond back

The single most useful thing to know about a rental bond is that in most of Australia your agent is not holding it. It sits with a state or territory authority, and neither side can simply take it. Somebody has to claim it, and if the claim is contested somebody has to decide.

That changes how you prepare, because the question at the end is not whether the agent is happy. It is whether a claim against your money would survive being looked at.

Tenancy law is state law and it differs in every jurisdiction, including who holds the bond and how long each step takes. Everything below describes the general shape. Your own authority is the one that governs your tenancy.

Who actually holds it

• New South Wales: NSW Fair Trading, through Rental Bonds Online
• Victoria: the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority, under Consumer Affairs Victoria
• Queensland: the Residential Tenancies Authority
• South Australia: Consumer and Business Services
• Western Australia: the Bond Administrator, under Consumer Protection
• Tasmania: the Rental Deposit Authority
• Australian Capital Territory: the ACT Revenue Office
• Northern Territory: the landlord or agent may hold the bond directly, which makes the Territory structurally different from the rest of the country

If you are in the Northern Territory, the practical consequence is that the money is already in the other party’s hands, so the documentation at the start and end of the tenancy carries more weight, not less.

What the exit inspection is actually comparing against

Not a standard. Not a professional clean. The condition report from the start of your tenancy.

That document is the whole argument. An exit inspection compares the property now against the property as recorded when you moved in, and the gap between the two is what a claim can be made about. A mark that was in the entry report is not your problem. A mark that was there but was never written down almost certainly is.

Which means the most valuable work on this entire page happened on the day you moved in, and if you are reading this at the end of a tenancy, the next most valuable thing you can do is find that report and read it before the inspection rather than after.

If you are moving in somewhere new: photograph everything, date it, and write it down even when it feels petty. Marks on skirting boards, a chip in a benchtop, the state of the oven, the condition of the blinds, whether the flyscreens are intact, what the garden looked like. It takes an hour and it is the cheapest hour in the tenancy.

Fair wear and tear

This is the phrase everything turns on, and it is deliberately not defined as a list, because it cannot be.

The general principle across Australian tenancy law is that deterioration from ordinary, reasonable use over time is not something a tenant pays for, while damage, neglect and the consequences of not cleaning are. Carpet that has thinned along the hallway over four years is different from carpet with a burn in it. Paint that has faded is different from paint with a hole in it. Repairs in a rental covers the other side of this, which is what the landlord is responsible for while you are still living there.

The distinction that matters in practice is usually time plus use versus a single event. Where it is genuinely arguable, it is arguable, and that is what the tribunal exists for.

How a claim is decided

The process differs by state, but the shape is broadly consistent.

1. The tenancy ends and an exit inspection happens, ideally with you present
2. One party claims the bond from the authority
3. The authority notifies the other party, who has a set period to respond or dispute. In New South Wales, Fair Trading emails the tenant a notice of claim and the other party has 14 days to respond
4. If nobody disputes it within the period, the authority pays the claim out
5. If it is disputed, it goes to the state tribunal. In New South Wales that is NCAT; every state has an equivalent
6. A party claiming against the bond is generally expected to support it with evidence such as the exit condition report and quotes, invoices or receipts for the work claimed

Two things follow from step 3. First, claims can time out against you if you ignore the notice, so do not ignore it. Second, the party that claims first sets the agenda, which is why claiming your own bond promptly rather than waiting to be told is worth doing.

What actually costs people their bond

In roughly descending order of how often it comes up:

• Cleaning, and specifically the oven, the range hood filter, inside cupboards, window tracks, and skirting boards
• The garden, which is frequently in the agreement and rarely in anyone’s memory
• Carpet, where a professional clean is often required by the agreement itself
• Rubbish left behind, including anything in the shed, the roof space or the bins
• Picture hooks and wall anchors, and the patching afterwards
• Unreturned keys, remotes and swipe cards, which are charged at replacement cost and are surprisingly expensive
• Blinds and flyscreens, which break quietly during a tenancy and get noticed at the end

End of lease cleaning covers the cleaning half of that list properly, because it is the half you can still do something about in the last week.

Prepare for the inspection like a claim, not a visit

• Read the entry condition report first. Everything else follows from it
• Be there. Attend the inspection if you are allowed to. Disagreements are much cheaper to resolve standing in the room than in writing a fortnight later
• Photograph the empty property on the day you hand back the keys, dated, room by room, including inside the oven and cupboards
• Keep the receipts for any professional cleaning the agreement required
• Return every key, remote and card and get that acknowledged in writing
• Claim your bond promptly through your state authority rather than waiting

If it is disputed

Ask for the claim in writing, itemised, with the evidence behind each line. A claim that cannot be itemised usually does not survive.

If you disagree, every state and territory has a free or low-cost tribunal for exactly this, and using it is ordinary rather than dramatic. Your state authority publishes how, and most also run a conciliation or mediation step before the hearing.

If the sum is small and the evidence is genuinely against you, it is worth saying so to yourself honestly before spending three weeks on it.

The short version

Find the entry condition report, clean the things on the list above, photograph the empty house, hand back every key, and claim first. Most bonds are returned in full, and most of the ones that are not come down to a document nobody read at the start.

While you are doing this, changing your address is running on its own clock, and if children are moving too, moving house with kids is the other half of the fortnight.