I have served notice on my rental property and would like to know what is the process for receiving back my rental bond? Furthermore, how long should it take for this money to be returned to me?
Hi,
The bond you paid is yours by default. If you end your lease you normally get given a form by the RE agent or owner to claim your bond back. If they don’t give you the form you can contact the RTBA (residential tennancy bond authority) for a form and fill it in yourself. You don’t need the property manager or landlord to sign this document. Once you lodge it the RTBA will contact the landlord and they will have 10 business days to make a claim against the release of bond back to you. If they don’t, then you get your money back within 2 days if you nominate an account for EFT or 5 days (I think, I’ve always nominated an account) for a cheque to get to you.Something to keep in mind both as a tenant and as a landlord is the bond belongs to the tenant, not the landlord, and by default the tenant gets their bond back. Many PM’s are of the mistaken belief that the bond belongs to the landlord and try to steal it from the tenant at any opportunity, they also tend to give the tenant the impression the bond belongs to the landlord. This in my opinion creates bad tenants as they (like me) become resentful of the greedy and manipulative ways of the evil real estate agents.
Are they born with black souls, or do they just end up that way?[biggrin]
well put surrey,
its about time more landlords started to treat tennants as a valuable contribution to their business and as their #1 customers, instead of treating them like pond scum. Tennants are people too and without them property investing would not exist.cheers Xenia
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
[email protected]
phone 0412 437 582Hello Dr X & Surrey, you both have obviously had some nasty experiences with either PM or landlords. One shouldn’t generalise when it comes to any “group” of profession!
I hope as investors you don’t get a call from a PM (if you are using one) to describe a home that has just been trashed [bike2] or when you look at your statement, you wonder why there is no rent coming in. [dead2]
Hi JJ & Jo, as mentioned the bond does not belong to you (if you are the landlord) unless of course the tenants have left owing rent and/or debt due to damage/cleaning incurred from not leaving the property as when they went in (refer to entry condition report)(don’t forget if there has been some cleaning/damage issues it is always best to allow the tenant 24 hours to go back and rectify.
I know for a fact that the majority of tenants are fabulous as are the majority of landlords and PM’s and the relationship between all three work very well. It is the minority (landlords, tenants & PM’s) the screw it up for the rest of us.
Always end things the way you started them (with everyone happy with the experience).[daisy]
Yasna & Simon
Just a note from a landlord’s point of view… I have always endeavoured to do my best to ensure my tenant’s happiness and given him any assistance/comforts he required. But over the last month or so he has fallen into financial hardship- so we did our best to be leniant with him falling behind in rent etc, but he has just vacated early and left the property in a fair old mess and is also still behind by 3 weeks rent. As far as I have heard so far he doesnt want his bond touched- o.k so he obviously needs the money but so do we!! after all we have been covering his rent shortfall for the last month. So how can it be fair that a tenant can leave when behind in their rent and expect to keep all of their bond?
[stunned]
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
