Bond lodgement explained: a state-by-state guide for self-managing landlords

Your tenant has just paid the bond. Four weeks’ rent, sitting in your account. So what happens now? Do you hold onto it? Send it somewhere? And is there a clock ticking that nobody’s told you about?

If that’s the question in your head, you’re in good company. It’s one of the first things landlords ask us when they start managing their own place. The short answer is that the money isn’t really yours to keep, and yes, there’s a deadline. But once you know the rules for your state, lodging a bond is a ten-minute job you’ll never think twice about again.

That’s the whole thing, really. Three numbers and a due date.

The catch is that those numbers change depending on which state or territory your property is in, so a guide written for someone in Sydney leaves a landlord in Perth none the wiser. This one covers all eight, with every figure checked against the government authority that actually sets it. If you’re setting up the tenancy right now, keep our guide to residential lease agreements and the wider guide to renting out your property open alongside it.

What a bond actually is (and what it isn’t)

A bond (a security deposit, if you’re in the Northern Territory) is money the tenant pays at the start of the tenancy as security. It sits untouched for the length of the lease. At the end, if everything’s in order, it goes straight back to them. If there’s unpaid rent or damage beyond fair wear and tear, you can claim against it, with evidence to back you up.

It isn’t a bonus payment. It isn’t a rainy-day fund. And it can’t be dipped into to cover rent while the tenant’s still living there. It’s their money, held safely, until the day they hand back the keys.

The bit that catches first-timers out: you can’t just keep it

In almost every state, the bond can’t live in your bank account. Not even for a week.

It has to be lodged with an independent government bond authority that holds it in trust until the tenancy ends. Queensland has the RTA, Victoria the RTBA, in New South Wales it’s held by Fair Trading through Rental Bonds Online. Different name in every state, same idea everywhere.

The one exception is the Northern Territory, where there’s no central bond board and you hold the security deposit yourself in a designated account. Everywhere else, keeping the money in your own account isn’t a shortcut. It’s a breach, and it can cost you a fine.

So if you’ve been picturing that bond landing in your everyday account and staying there, adjust the picture. Think of yourself as passing it straight through to the authority, who minds it for you until move-out day. Genuinely, that’s all there is to it.

How much can you ask for, and where does it go? Every state, one table

This is the one to bookmark. Maximum bond, who holds it, and how long you’ve got to lodge it once the tenant has paid.

State/territory	Maximum bond	Who holds it	Deadline to lodge
NSW	4 weeks’ rent	NSW Fair Trading (Rental Bonds Online)	Within 10 working days of receiving it
VIC	1 month’s rent (no cap if weekly rent is over $900, or if VCAT sets one)	Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA)	Within 14 days (not counting public holidays)
QLD	4 weeks’ rent (any rent, since 30 Sep 2024)	Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA)	Within 10 days of receiving it
WA	4 weeks’ rent (unless rent is over $1,200/week), plus a pet bond up to $350	Bonds Administration (Consumer Protection)	As soon as practicable, and within 14 days
SA	4 weeks’ rent if weekly rent is $800 or less; 6 weeks if it’s over $800	Consumer and Business Services (Residential Bonds Online)	Within 2 weeks (agents get 4 weeks)
TAS	4 weeks’ rent	Rental Deposit Authority (via MyBond)	Through MyBond; within 10 working days if paid to you directly
ACT	4 weeks’ rent	ACT Revenue Office (Rental Bonds)	Within 2 weeks of receiving it
NT	4 weeks’ rent (security deposit)	You do, in a designated account (no central authority)	No lodgement body; give the tenant a receipt within 2 business days

Four weeks’ rent is the standard ceiling almost everywhere, but a couple of states play by their own rules. Victoria talks in months rather than weeks, and only lets you take more where the rent tops $900 a week. South Australia has a two-tier system: four weeks up to $800 a week, six weeks above it. Ask for more than the cap allows and the tenant can simply claim the difference back, so there’s nothing to gain by pushing it.

To put a real figure on it: on rent of $600 a week, a four-week bond is $2,400. That’s a meaningful sum of someone else’s money, which is exactly why the rules about where it goes are as strict as they are.

Want the official detail for your own state? Each authority lays it out plainly: NSW Fair Trading, the Victorian RTBA, the Queensland RTA, Consumer Protection WA, Consumer and Business Services SA, Consumer, Building and Occupational Services TAS, the ACT Revenue Office, and NT Consumer Affairs.

How to lodge a bond, step by step

The screens differ from state to state, but the shape of the job is the same wherever you are:

Register with your state’s bond authority first. Do it the moment you’ve picked a tenant, before the lease start date. Some systems run identity checks that take a day or two (in NSW, Rental Bonds Online verifies you through Service NSW), and you don’t want that holding things up on move-in day.
Collect the bond, or better, have the tenant pay the authority directly. Most online systems let the tenant pay the authority straight away, so the money never touches your account at all. If they do pay you, hand over a receipt on the spot.
Lodge it within your state’s deadline. Enter the tenancy details and the amount, and submit. The clock in the table above starts the day the money reaches you.
Check the receipt lands. The authority issues a receipt with a bond number to both you and the tenant. That number is your proof the bond is lodged, so file it with your tenancy paperwork where you’ll find it in three years.

That’s it. Four steps, most of them clicks.

Pet bonds and the occasional extra bond

Allowing a pet? Some states let you charge a separate pet bond on top of the standard amount. Western Australia is the clearest example: since July 2026 the maximum pet bond for a residential tenancy is $350, and it covers fumigation or pet-related damage. It gets lodged with Bonds Administration just like the regular bond. One thing to remember, you can’t charge a pet bond for an assistance animal.

A few states also allow an additional bond, but only in narrow circumstances, such as a very long lease or where the tenant has made approved changes to the property. These are the exception rather than the rule, and they come with their own conditions and notice requirements, so check with your state authority before you ask for one.

What happens if you lodge late (or not at all)

Worth taking seriously, without losing any sleep over it.

Failing to lodge a bond, or lodging it late, is an offence in every state that runs a central scheme, and it can attract a fine. The bigger headache tends to come at the end of the tenancy: if the money was never with the authority, the tidy online refund process simply isn’t available to you, and any disagreement over who gets what turns messier than it ever needed to be.

None of which is hard to sidestep. Register early, lodge inside the deadline, keep the receipt. Do those and penalties are something that happens to other people.

The easy way: letting PropertyNow handle the lodgement

If eight different state portals sounds like exactly the kind of admin that’s been putting you off managing your own rental, this is the part worth knowing.

You don’t have to wrangle any of it by hand. PropertyNow’s bond management walks the whole thing through as part of setting up your tenancy: it points you at the right authority for your state, prompts you with the correct forms, invites the tenant to pay where they can pay online, and keeps you inside the lodgement deadline so nothing slips. You stay in full control of your property, without needing to become an expert in your state’s bond system to do it properly.

That’s really the thread running through self-managing. The rules are learnable and the admin is doable, and where there’s a tool that takes the fiddly bits off your hands, you use it. Plenty of landlords lodge their own bonds every year without ever hiring a property manager. This is just the version where the software does the remembering for you.

When the tenancy ends: claiming on the bond

When the lease wraps up, the bond goes back to the tenant unless there’s a genuine reason to hold some of it back, usually unpaid rent, or damage that goes past fair wear and tear. You can’t claim for the ordinary ageing of a property, and that line, between fair wear and actual damage, is where most bond disputes are born.

Your best protection is boring but bulletproof: a thorough condition report at the start and the finish, backed by dated photos. That’s what turns a claim from “your word against theirs” into a straightforward, evidence-backed request. We walk through exactly how in our guide to the end-of-tenancy condition report. And of course, the surest way to avoid a bond fight altogether is to screen your tenants well before they ever move in.

The bottom line

Bond lodgement looks like red tape from the outside, but it comes down to three things you only need to look up once: how much you can take, where it goes, and by when. Get the tenant to pay the authority directly where you can, lodge inside the deadline, hang onto the receipt. That’s the job done properly.

It’s bread-and-butter stuff, and thousands of self-managing landlords handle it every year. Do it once and you’ll wonder what you were ever worried about.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep the bond in my own bank account? No, not in any state with a central bond scheme, which is everywhere except the Northern Territory. The bond has to be lodged with your state authority, which holds it in trust. In the NT there’s no central board, so you hold the security deposit in a designated account and give the tenant a proper receipt.

How much bond can I legally ask for? Four weeks’ rent is the standard maximum in most states. Victoria uses one month’s rent (with more allowed only above $900/week), and South Australia allows six weeks where the rent is over $800/week. Charge more than the cap and the tenant can claim it back.

How long do I have to lodge the bond? It varies: 10 working days in NSW, 10 days in QLD, 14 days in VIC and WA, and 2 weeks in SA and the ACT. The clock starts when you receive the money, so register with the authority early.

Can I charge a pet bond? In some states, yes. Western Australia allows a residential pet bond of up to $350 on top of the normal bond. You can’t charge one for an assistance animal. Check your own state’s rules, as they differ.

Can the bond be used to cover rent during the tenancy? No. The bond is security held for the end of the tenancy. It can’t be drawn down to pay rent along the way.

Can I claim the whole bond for damage? Only for genuine costs, like unpaid rent or damage beyond fair wear and tear, and you’ll need evidence. Ordinary wear from normal living isn’t claimable. A dated condition report at move-in and move-out is your best support for any claim.