Credit24's Money Matters Blog

With the housing market making it unaffordable for many Australians to buy, more and more are choosing to rent their home rather than own. In fact, double the number of Aussies are renting right now as there were back in 1981. It is estimated around 4.5 million people live in private rented accommodation, that’s around 24% of all Australian households, and projections of the future housing market suggest this figure will only continue to grow.

When it comes time to move out of a rental property, one thing which often makes even the most well-behaved tenant nervous is getting back the rental bond. Simply paying the bond for a rental property is very expensive, usually costing 4-6 weeks’ worth of rent, so naturally you would like to get as much back as possible, especially if you had to invest in a rental bond loan in the first place. If you have been a good tenant then you should be ok. The NSW Department of Fair Trading states that as long as you don’t owe money and you leave the property in good condition when your tenancy is over, you are entitled to get a full refund of the bond you paid.