Vacating - Getting your bond back

 How to get your bond back

Once you have completely moved out of the property, the property manager will conduct a final inspection.

Providing that there are no claims against the bond for items such as:

  • unpaid rent
  • any repair costs for damage that is believed to have been caused by the tenant/resident
  • cleaning costs
  • outstanding invoices
  • cost of re-letting and/or re-advertising if you are leaving before the end of a fixed term tenancy.

The bond should be returned to you if there are no claims. If a bond guarantee was provided by Housing SA, it will be returned to Housing SA if there are no claims against it. You, as the tenant/resident will have to pay Housing SA any amount of bond that is claimed by the property manager.

If you are registered for Residential Bonds Online (RBO), we would encourage you to check that your email address is entered in the RBO system. An email address can be provided to Consumer and Business Services (CBS) by completing an on-line form.

If you are not registered for Residential Bonds Online, the bond can only be claimed by completing and signing a bond refund form, which will be completed by the property manager once all claim costs (if any) are known.

A tenant/resident should not sign the bond refund form unless they are agreeing to the amount claimed by the property manager.

Only one tenant on the lease needs to sign the bond refund. If only one tenant is claiming the refund and other tenants are listed on the bond, they must complete a declaration form available from the CBS website and attach it to the refund form.

In order to help you get you bond back quicker, we would recommend that you download our Vacate Cleaning Checklist which will help you not miss any critical areas and ensure a quicker refund of your bond.