Host – Belinda Heit – Communication and Education
Guest – Jennifer Smith – RTA CEO

Host: Welcome to the Talking Tenancies Podcast, brought to you by the Residential Tenancies Authority. I'm your host Belinda Heit. Join me as we explore everything you need to know about renting in Queensland, with experts from the RTA and industry. We're here to help make renting work for everyone. 

It's hard to imagine forgetting to claim your rental bond at the end of a tenancy, but you may be surprised to know the RTA holds more than 100,000 outstanding bond payments, which are sometimes called unclaimed bonds or forgotten bonds.

In this episode we cover the importance of keeping your details up to date with the RTA and how you can check if bond money is owed to you. 

Joining us today is the RTA's CEO, Jennifer Smith. Welcome, Jennifer.

Guest: Welcome, Belinda. Thank you for inviting me to join your podcast.

Host: Today, we're going to talk about outstanding bonds. The RTA holds bonds for more than 1/3 of Queensland households who currently rent. For various reasons, bonds are sometimes forgotten and not claimed, so Jennifer, why would there be an outstanding bond payment with the RTA?

Guest: Well, there's many reasons why someone may have an outstanding bond payment. 

The most common is that the contact details provided to the RTA at the start of the tenancy become out of date or some details were not provided to the RTA at the start of the tenancy. 

As you can understand, this can result in failed attempts to repay a customer's rental bond when this data is not up to date or doesn't fully exist.

It is important that our customers ensure their details are kept up to date with the RTA for this reason. 

Another reason that bonds may not be claimed is that some tenants may not understand that they're actually entitled to get their bond back through their agent or property owner. And in that case, their tenancy may have ended – and if there's no monies owed for unpaid rent or any other matters, they may have just forgotten to lodge a bond refund request and maybe moved on to another property.

Host: Well, that makes sense. Now I understand the RTA has been holding some bond monies for a while. Do bond monies expire after a certain time?

Guest: No, bond monies will not expire, which is good news for those who do have some monies sitting with the RTA. In fact, the RTA guarantees the refund of rental bonds irrespective of how much time has passed. In fact, we have our oldest bond is a payment that we've held since 1990.

Host: Wow. OK, so how big are these bond payments?

Guest: Although some of the bond payments are relatively small, over 80% are valued at $50 or more, but the average value of our outstanding bond payment is about $450.

Host: Yeah. And today every dollar counts, doesn't it? So, what does the RTA proactively do to reconnect someone with their bond if payment isn't successful the first time?

Guest: Well, if there is an unsuccessful refund attempt, the RTA will contact the customer if they have their details to advise them that the payment was unsuccessful. The customer is also prompted to update their details or contact the RTA at anytime. 

We also run twice yearly campaigns. One of these is just what we're doing right now, where we also email customers who hold an outstanding bond payment to help reconnect Queenslanders with their forgotten bonds. 

The good news is, as a result of these campaigns in the 2023–24 financial year, we returned almost $25 million in outstanding bond payments to over 22,000 customers.

Host: That's a lot of money, Jennifer.

Guest: Yes.

Host: Now I don't know about you, Jennifer, but my memory is not what it used to be. What if people have forgotten their rental history details? Is there a way they can search for those?

Guest: There is and that's a good point. Memory can fade for the best of us. 

So, one thing is our past and current customers can do a search in their own emails for any correspondence from the RTA and look out for emails which might have some key information such as the acknowledgment of a rental bond that they may have paid in the past. They can also have a look at their own bank statements around the time that they may have started a tenancy to confirm what the bond amount was, or the rent amount, and who that was paid to.

If someone has forgotten their rental history details and they can't actually find them using some of these tips, they can complete the outstanding bond payments enquiry form on the RTA website and provide some identification requirements listed on that form. The RTA will then assess the enquiry and contact the customer if they have found an outstanding bond payment for that customer. 

If someone also thinks they have an outstanding amount with us, they can use our website, if they have their bond number and update their details through our website. The monies will then be released to them when their details are updated. 

If someone doesn't know their bond number, they can also fill out an outstanding bond payments form on our website and the RTA will help assess if there is an outstanding bond payment using the details that are provided by the customer.

The RTA will assess if any outstanding bond payments are linked to the details provided in those forms and will notify the customer via email. The RTA is unable to notify people over the phone if they do have an outstanding bond payment, so all callers will be redirected to complete the outstanding bond payment form on the RTA website.

Host: Now it's also worth noting here that we know sometimes it can seem too good to be true when receiving an email saying you may be owed money, which is why it's important people know that any RTA emails will come from a verified email address and they can access and complete the online form directly via the RTA website if they don't wish to click any links in emails. Now, how long will it take for customers to receive the monies from an outstanding bond payment and how will they receive it?

Guest: Well, customers can go at any time to the RTA website and use our online form to update their details. Then if they do have outstanding bond payments, those monies will be paid to a nominated bank account through the updated details that they've provided, and most of our online form inquiries will be processed within two weeks, so 14 days. It could take longer if an application is not complete, or if we need to collect additional information to proceed with processing that request.

Host: And if listeners are curious to find out more about outstanding bond payments, where can they go?

Guest: The easiest way to learn more about outstanding bond payments and to search for an unclaimed bond is to visit our website at rta.qld.gov.au.

Host: Well, thanks, Jennifer, for helping us to get a greater understanding on what we need to know when it comes to outstanding bond payments when renting in QLD.

Guest: Thanks Belinda.

Host: Thank you for listening to the Talking Tenancies Podcast. For more information about the Residential Tenancies Authority, visit rta.qld.gov.au.