Bond refund requests are made to the RTA using the Refund of rental bond.

A bond refund request should be completed and sent to the RTA when the tenancy agreement has ended. The RTA cannot accept a bond refund request before the expiry date of the appropriate notice such as a Notice to leave (Form 12), Notice of intention to leave (Form 13) or Abandonment termination notice (Form 15).

Refunds are only paid into Australian bank accounts (no cheques).

Tenants/residents who are experiencing domestic and family violence should complete and submit the Bond refund for persons experiencing domestic and family violence (Form 4a) to request their bond contribution to be refunded. Tenants/residents will need to provide a Notice ending tenancy/residency interest (domestic and family violence) with the relevant evidence before submitting their bond refund request. Learn more or contact the RTA for further assistance in this process (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.00pm, excluding public holidays).

Filling out the form

All relevant fields need to be completed to avoid processing delays. The tenant should include their forwarding address on the form.

It is an offence for a person to knowingly give the RTA documents that contain false or misleading information. This applies to all forms of written communication to the RTA, not just submitting online forms. It also applies to anyone who provides information to the RTA, not just tenants/residents and property managers/owners.

Important: If you need urgent help to complete a bond refund form, please contact the RTA and we'll help you.

Claim on bond by property manager/owner

Rental bonds lodged on or after 30 September 2024 require supporting evidence to be provided to a tenant/resident when a property manager/owner claims or disputes a bond refund request. This must be done within 14 days of the bond claim or dispute. Not providing supporting evidence to a tenant/resident when a claim or dispute is made against a bond is an offence.

For rental bonds lodged with the RTA before 30 September 2024, a 12 month transitional period from 30 September 2024 to 30 September 2025 applies. Evidence does not need to be provided for bond claims until after this period expires for bonds lodged with the RTA before 30 September 2024.

Failure to comply with these requirements may result in a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units.

Note: evidence must be provided to the tenant/resident, not to the RTA. 

Bond loan

Where a bond loan is still outstanding, the loan balance will be deducted from the tenant’s refund amount and paid directly to the Department​​. Visit our bond loan webpage for more information.

If you have a bond loan through a private/commercial lender, visit our bond loan webpage for more information.

Alterations

• do not use correction fluid
• everyone must sign any alteration to bond amounts (full signatures are required)

Lodging the form

Only original, signed forms should be submitted to the RTA. Emailed or photocopied forms will not be accepted.

• Web Services: request a bond refund online
• post: RTA, GPO Box 390, Brisbane Q 4001

Any person knowingly submitting false or misleading details on the refund form is committing an offence under Queensland law.

Important: If you are unable to use RTA Web Services or post and you need urgent help to submit a bond refund form, please contact the RTA and we'll help you.