Rental bonds in Queensland: lodging, the maximum and getting it back

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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For most tenants the bond is the largest sum they hand over at the start of a tenancy, and the one they most want to see again at the end. For owners it is the security against unpaid rent or damage. In Queensland neither side holds it. The money sits with a state authority from the first days of the tenancy until the last, and a set of plain rules decides how it gets there and how it comes back.

This guide follows a bond through its life: what it is, how much can be asked, who lodges it and by when, what happens when the rent or the tenants change, how a refund is requested, and what happens when the two sides disagree about it. The rules are those published by the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA), and the figures come from the RTA's own reports. It is general information, not advice on a particular tenancy.

Residential Tenancies Authority, rental bond rules in force in Queensland.

What a bond is and who holds it

A rental bond is a security deposit paid by the tenant when a tenancy begins. The RTA describes it in those terms, and the important word is security: the bond is the tenant's money, held against what the tenant might owe when the tenancy ends.

In Queensland the bond is not kept by the owner or the agent. Whoever receives it must give the tenant a receipt and lodge the money with the RTA, a state government authority, which holds it until the tenancy ends.

The scale is large. The RTA's 2024-25 annual report recorded about 631,800 bonds held at 30 June 2025, worth $1,329.5 million. That works out at an average of roughly $2,100 a bond. In the year, 227,569 new bonds were lodged and 227,616 refunds were processed, almost exactly one for one.

How much can be asked

The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 caps the bond, and since 30 September 2024 the cap has been the same for every general tenancy, whatever the rent.

A worked example with invented figures: for a home let at $650 a week, the most that can be asked as bond is $2,600.

Two points close the gaps people look for. First, the RTA says the maximum applies however the bond is labelled and however many bonds are taken. A separate "pet bond" on top of four weeks' rent is not permitted, because the total is what counts. Second, asking for more than the maximum is an offence.

The cap sits beside a separate limit on rent paid in advance. Since 6 June 2024, according to the RTA's summary of rental law changes, a tenant cannot be asked for more than one month's rent in advance on a fixed-term agreement, or two weeks on a periodic or rooming agreement. Bond and advance rent are different payments and each has its own ceiling.

Tenants who paid more than four weeks' rent as bond before the cap changed are not forgotten. The RTA's guidance provides an excess bond claim, on Form 4b, for the amount above four weeks' rent where a tenancy has been renewed after 30 September 2024. The form needs the signatures of all bond contributors.

Lodging the bond: who and when

The property manager or owner who receives a bond must lodge it with the RTA within 10 days of receiving it. Missing that deadline is an offence.

A tenant can also lodge the bond directly. The RTA offers two channels:

• online, through RTA Web Services, as a single lodgement or in bulk
• by post, with the Bond Lodgement form (Form 2).

Most lodging is now digital. The 2024-25 annual report says 81.8 per cent of lodgements were made through digital channels.

The lodgement asks for the date of the last rent increase for the property, unless it is being rented for the first time or the lessor is exempt. That requirement ties the bond record to the rule that rent can rise only once in 12 months for a property.

Once the payment has cleared, the RTA issues an Acknowledgement of rental bond to each bond contributor and to the property manager, by email where an address has been registered and by post otherwise.

Paying by instalments or with a bond loan

A bond does not always arrive in one payment. The RTA says a bond may be paid in instalments if that is agreed in writing. For a general tenancy or a moveable dwelling without government assistance, each instalment must be lodged within 10 days of being received. Where the tenant has government assistance, and in rooming accommodation, the full bond is lodged within 10 days of the final instalment.

Tenants who cannot fund a bond may be eligible for a bond loan from the Department of Housing and Public Works, which sets the eligibility rules. Two details from the RTA's pages matter later. A bond funded by a loan can only be lodged by post. And at refund time, the RTA is required to repay any outstanding amount of a government bond loan directly to the department, with the remainder going to the bond contributor. A commercial bond loan, taken from a private lender, is treated differently: the RTA says that in that case the bond is refunded to the tenant.

When the rent or the tenants change

A bond is set at the start, but tenancies change.

When the rent rises. The bond may be increased to match, with two conditions the RTA sets out: at least 11 months must have passed since the bond was last set or increased, and the tenant must be given written notice of at least one month, stating the day by which the extra amount is due. The new total still cannot exceed the maximum. To continue the earlier example: if the rent of $650 a week rises to $690, the maximum bond rises from $2,600 to $2,760, so the most that can be added is $160. The top-up is lodged with the RTA like any other bond money.

When the tenant moves to another property. The RTA's rental bonds fact sheet describes a transfer on Form 3, which moves an existing bond to a new property. The form alone cannot change the amount, the tenants or the manager.

When co-tenants come and go. Each person who paid part of the bond is a bond contributor in the RTA's records, and a refund needs the agreement of everyone listed. In a shared house, the list of contributors held by the RTA should match the people who actually put money in. If people have moved in or out during the tenancy, that is worth checking with the RTA well before the end.

Before moving out

The refund is decided at the end of the tenancy, but it is shaped earlier. The bond exists to cover what the RTA calls outstanding costs at the end of a tenancy, and whether there are any depends on records made along the way: the condition of the home at the start, the condition at the end, and the rent paid.

The first record is the entry condition report, Form 1a for a general tenancy. The RTA says the property manager or owner must prepare it, sign it and give the tenant a copy at the start of the tenancy, and that failing to do so is an offence. The tenant then has 7 days to mark where they agree or disagree and return it, counted from the later of the day they moved in and the day they were given the report. The manager returns a copy of the completed report to the tenant within 14 days. A tenant who does not return it is taken to agree with the manager's description, so the 7 days are the tenant's one chance to put a stained carpet or a chipped benchtop on the record before it can be attributed to them. The RTA suggests photos and videos to go with the report and notes that these can be used as evidence at the tribunal.

The second is the exit condition report, Form 14a for a general tenancy. The RTA's preferred course is for the tenant and the manager to complete it together. Otherwise the tenant cleans the home, fills in the report and hands it over with the keys; the manager inspects, signs, and must send a completed copy to the tenant's new address within 3 business days. The manager keeps the signed copy for a year after the tenancy ends. Both reports record the meter readings.

The two reports are compared under one standard. The RTA states that the tenant must leave the property in the same condition it was in at the start of the tenancy, less fair wear and tear. It defines fair wear and tear as what happens during normal use of a property and through ageing and deterioration from exposure to the environment, and that part is the owner's to bear. Its examples come in pairs. Paint faded by sunlight is wear; paint discoloured by candle smoke is damage. Carpet worn by everyday foot traffic is wear; carpet stained by a pet is damage. Plaster cracked as the building settles is wear; plaster broken by hammered nails is damage. Dirt, grime and grease are not fair wear and tear, the RTA adds, and neither is damage caused by an approved pet.

That standard explains why the same deduction can be fair in one tenancy and not in another. A worked example with invented figures: a manager claims $600 from a bond for repainting a living room. If the entry report recorded fresh paint and the exit report shows smoke staining, the claim concerns damage. If the paint was already eight years old and has simply faded, the same $600 concerns wear, which the bond is not there to cover. The amount is identical; the two condition reports decide which case it is.

A refund request cannot be lodged before the tenancy has ended. The RTA says it cannot be submitted before the expiry date of the notice ending the tenancy, whether that is a notice to leave from the lessor (Form 12), a notice of intention to leave from the tenant (Form 13) or an abandonment termination notice (Form 15).

One step is worth doing before that date. Refunds are paid only into an Australian bank account, never by cheque, and email notices go only to addresses registered with the RTA. Contributors who have changed bank or email since the tenancy began have reason to check the details the RTA holds before the refund is requested.

Requesting the refund

Either side can start. A tenant or a property manager or owner may make the refund request, and the RTA recommends doing it online.

The paper route is the Refund of Rental Bond form (Form 4), signed by every party named on the bond and posted to the RTA. The original is required: the RTA does not accept emailed or photocopied forms. A separate form, Form 4a, exists for people experiencing domestic and family violence.

The online route is the norm. In 2024-25, 92.4 per cent of refunds were requested through digital channels, and the RTA's average processing time for a refund was 0.7 days, according to its annual report.

How most refunds turn out

The same report gives the outcome. In 2024-25, 57.6 per cent of tenants and residents received their full bond back, and on average tenants received 75.2 per cent of the bond.

Those two figures describe the whole range of endings, from tenancies where nothing was owed to those where rent was unpaid or repairs were needed. They do not say who was right in any case. They do show that a full refund is the most common single outcome, and that a deduction of some size is far from rare.

The report also records $4.7 million in outstanding bonds returned to 4,201 customers during the year. The report does not break that figure down further.

When the two sides disagree

If the parties do not agree, either can still lodge a refund request alone. What follows is a fixed sequence, and its deadlines are short.

The third step is the one that catches people out. If the notice of claim is not answered within 14 days, the RTA pays the bond as set out in the first request it received. A tenant who ignores a notice because the claim seems plainly wrong loses the chance to contest it through this process, and the same applies to an owner who ignores a tenant's request.

The fifth step has its own clock. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) lists a time limit of 7 days after the notice of unresolved dispute is issued for bond disputes, and classes them as non-urgent matters that must go through the RTA first. If no application is made to QCAT, the RTA says it releases the bond in line with the original refund request.

Bond disputes are the core of the RTA's conciliation work. Of the 23,408 disputes it conciliated in 2024-25, 70.8 per cent were about bond refunds, which is about 16,600 disputes. Across all disputes where both parties agreed to take part, 77.5 per cent were resolved. Conciliators do not decide who is right and do not act for either side.

The evidence rule for claims

A claim on a bond has to be backed up. Under changes the RTA dates from 30 September 2024, a property manager or owner who makes a bond claim, or who disputes a refund, must give the tenant supporting evidence within 14 days of doing so.

The RTA is specific on two points. The evidence goes to the tenant or resident, not to the RTA. And failing to provide it is an offence, with a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units. The RTA's fact sheet applies the requirement to bonds lodged after 30 September 2024.

For property managers, the rule turns good record-keeping from a habit into a requirement: a claim that cannot be documented within a fortnight is a claim at risk. For tenants, it means a deduction should arrive with its reasons, in time to be weighed before the 14 days for responding to a notice of claim have run.

Forms and deadlines in one place

The process uses a small set of forms and time limits, all from the RTA except the last.

Two forms share a number and should not be confused: the RTA's Form 2 lodges a bond, and QCAT's Form 2 is the tribunal's application for a tenancy dispute.

Read together, the rules give each side something. The tenant's money is held by a neutral authority, capped, and cannot be kept without evidence and a process. The owner has a secured sum, a quick route to an agreed refund and a defined way to claim. More than half of tenants, on the RTA's figures, get the full bond back, and the average refund is processed within a day. The deadlines of 10, 14 and 7 days are for the rest.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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