Key takeaways
- Your bond is held by a state authority, so a landlord disappearing does not lose your money.
- Bonds are not listed on the general state unclaimed money registers.
- Share-house bonds are the most commonly abandoned, because refunds need every tenant to act.
How bonds become unclaimed
- You moved out and assumed the agent had handled the refund.
- You were in a share house and another tenant never completed their part of the claim.
- You moved interstate or overseas and the refund forms never reached you.
- You changed bank accounts, so the transfer failed and the money went back to the authority.
- The tenancy ended in a dispute and the balance was never distributed after it resolved.
Where bonds are held in each state
| State or territory | Authority holding bonds |
|---|---|
| New South Wales | NSW Fair Trading - Rental Bonds Online |
| Victoria | Residential Tenancies Bond Authority |
| Queensland | Residential Tenancies Authority |
| South Australia | Consumer and Business Services |
| Western Australia | Bond Administrator, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety |
| Tasmania | Rental Deposit Authority |
| Australian Capital Territory | ACT Revenue Office |
| Northern Territory | NT Consumer Affairs |
How to claim an old bond
- 1Find the address of the rental and roughly when the tenancy ended.
- 2Contact the bond authority for that state, not your old agent.
- 3Provide identity documents and any tenancy paperwork you still have - a lease, a condition report or old rent receipts.
- 4If the bond was shared, expect the authority to contact the other tenants or split the refund by the recorded contributions.
- 5Give the authority current bank details, and confirm the account name matches your identification.
You do not need your original bond number. The authorities can search by property address and tenant name, which is usually enough to locate a lodgement from years ago.
The bond is yours until a tribunal or an agreed claim says otherwise. Time alone does not transfer it to the landlord.
Ready to search?
Start with your state or territory - every register we link to is official and free to use.
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