Bond Refunds and how it may take 2 months

Bond Refunds… and How It May Take up to 2 Months’ to Get Your Money

So your tenant leaves, they owe rent, the lawns haven’t been mowed and the gardens are more weeds than plants, the kitchen cupboards are crawling with cockroaches and you can’t see through the shower screen for the soap scum.

The bond comes to you right?   Maybe.   A successful claim on a tenant’s bond rests heavily on the entry report and photographs BUT what you may not know is how long it can take before you actually see the money.

Following an exit inspection, a tenant must be notified within 3 days of any items that require additional cleaning and/or repair.

Tenants are generally given 24 hours to return to the property and undertake the list.   After a follow up inspection is carried out, then and only then can a property manager begin to compile a list of monies being claimed.   Once a claim is made on a tenant’s bond, the tenant has 30 days in which to dispute the claim.

If a dispute is lodged with the Residential Tenancies Authority, a mediation phone call will be set up between the tenant and the agent.   This is an opportunity for both parties to come to agreement on the claim.

If an agreement can’t be reached then a Notice of Unresolved Dispute will be issued to both agent and tenant and a 7 day window is provided to give the tenant an opportunity to lodge the matter with QCAT.

If the tenant chooses to lodge with QCAT, the matter will be scheduled for a hearing and from there the magistrate will make a ruling.

All in all, by the time you get your money, it can be 2 months wait so you need to make sure that if the tenancy is headed south, you have a buffer zone.