Commissioner of Consumer Protection, Lanie Chopping says that as rents rise across the State, many tenants are discovering that even further expenses are being asked of them.
“When rent is increased at a property, a landlord or property manager may request the tenant pay extra money to ‘top-up’ their security bond,” Ms Chopping said.
“How much a tenant is asked to pay will depend on how much their weekly rent has increased by.”
She said that now normal tenancy laws had been resumed, in which rent increases were allowed, there had been a sizeable increase in the number of bond top-ups being handled by the Bonds Administration team at Consumer Protection.
“It has increased from around 50 lodgements on a typical day before the COVID-19 emergency period, to 341 lodgements on one recent day,” Ms Chopping said.
“This has prompted us to remind tenants, landlords and property managers of their rights and responsibilities when it comes to lodging bond variations.”
She said the way bond variations are lodged with Consumer Protection would depend on whether the rental home was managed by a private landlord or property manager.
“Private lessors should complete a variation of security bond form listing the relevant changes and can submit the signed form via post, email or in-person,” the Commissioner said.
“Meanwhile, a licensed real estate agent is required to make any changes to a security bond via the BondsOnline system as an eTransaction.
The Consumer Protection website has further information about bond variations, and other related topics such as bond disposals, and can be accessed at this PS News link.
