 Welcome to today's recording on all things rental bond, covering off from lodgment to refunds and everything in between. My name is Lynn Smith from the RTA's communication and education team and today I'm also joined by Sarah Halligan from our customer experience team. Thanks for joining me today Sarah. Thanks for having me, Lynn. Okay I'm just going to share my screen. I think it's a great opportunity to refresh people's knowledge, learn something new and also get some really important tips on this particular topic. Today we want to cover what does a bond cycle look like, what is QGARV and web services, bond lodgement options and how to top up a bond balance. During a tenancy there may be changes with bond contributors or the agent or the owner may change. Also spend a little bit of time on the bond refund process, quickly touch on the RTA e-services and also where to get more information. Note the RTA cannot provide you with legal advice and you are encouraged to seek your own independent advice to make informed decisions. At the start of a tenancy the owner or the manager may ask the tenant to pay a rental bond. It's not compulsory to pay a bond however as best business practice you'll find most agents and owners will request a bond. It needs to be lodged with the RTA and there are rules that apply with regards to the maximum amount of bond that can be charged. During the tenancy a few things may or may not occur regarding a rental bond. There could be a rent increase at some point in your tenancy requiring the bond to be increased. There could also be a change of flatmates or co-tenants and that requires a change of bond contributors. There could also be a change of the owners or the agents so if a property's been sold or there's been a change in the managing agents all these situations require the RTA to be notified to make sure that we have the bond information and that what we have is always up to date. At the end of the tenancy when handover has occurred if there's no money outstanding then the tenant is in time to receive a full bond refund. You can claim a bond refund at the RTA and we'll go through this process for you. The core business of the RTA is to administer the Residential Tensies and Rumi Accommodation Act. This also includes bond management, the receiving and refunding of a rental bond. It is a requirement under tenancy law if a bond is paid that it must be lodged with the RTA within 10 days. Penalty provisions do apply for non-lodgment or late lodgment of a rental bond. The RTA recently launched its compliance and enforcement strategy and this is available on our website. So for agents it's best practice to ensure you're lodging bonds at least on a weekly basis and not doing mid and end-of-month lodging just to make sure that you meet that 10-day timeframe. Either the managing person or the tenant can lodge the bond and this can be done through the RTA's web services online or completing a paper bond lodgment form and sending a check or money order to us. Upon request the RTA can also issue a B-pay reference for payment on the paper form. So I'm just going to hand over to you, Sarah. Thank you, Lynn. Let's look at web services, the secure online platform that makes bond transactions faster and easier for everyone. There are webinars that cover web services in-depth but those who may be new or not yet given a go, I'll just step through some of the basic information and reminders. Firstly, you will be prompted with terms and conditions. Make sure you scroll through them as you won't be able to proceed to the next steps without scrolling, then accepting. Web services provides the same function as our paper forms, so you don't need to complete both online and paper, just one or the other will work. Knowing your RTA client ID number will be important. For agents, your office will be issued one and for landlords and tenants, once you have a bond with the RTA, you will be given an RTA client ID number. Client ID numbers are separate to bond numbers. So just a quick question, Sarah. If I'm a tenant changing between properties, I'm renting from an agent, then I'm renting the next time from a landlord, do I get a new ID number? Your RTA client ID number is unique to you or your office and you will have contact information, whereas the bond number will change each new property that is rented and have the relevant tenancy information, so they are different numbers. The bond number will change, your client ID should stay the same. Great. To use the RTA web services, you must first register with QGov. QGov is the digital identification platform. Using this platform will replace the need for physical signature. You do have to verify who you are and will need to include having 100 points of Australian or state issued identification. So before you start, make sure you have your wallet or other ID ready to go. This can be common ones such as your driver's license, passport, including your citizenship or visa information, which is new or other IDs such as a Medicare card. Once you have registered with your login QGov account, you are right to go for future transactions online with the RTA. Great. Thanks, Sarah. So when you're ready to use web servers to lodge a bond, make sure you have created that QGov account and you're ready to log in. A lot of information to complete the RTA lodgement fields, you're going to find on your tenancy or rooming accommodation agreement. So have it handy as you'll need to reference it. If there are multiple tenants, you will have to have separate email addresses. Make sure these addresses are accurate and correct. Don't make it up as that could be providing the RTA with false and misleading information. Have your credit card or your debit card ready to pay. For tenants lodging their own bonds, please make sure that you use the agency name, not the individual property manager's name. Again, the details, whether it's a private landlord or a real estate agent or an onsite manager, you'll have their names or their company name on the lease. For agents, please make sure when you're completing the fields in the lodgement that you use the main email address for your agency that's registered with the RTA. At times during the tenancy, if there is a rent increase, you may need to top up the bond. Remember for agents and landlords, it must be at least 11 months since the last bond increase or the start of the tenancy. A bond top-up can also occur if a tenant is paying off their bond and instalments. Each time an instalment is received, it needs to be lodged with the RTA within the 10-day timeframe. There is a slight exception for instalments for rooming accommodation and that's outlined in the Act under Section 118. You can use web services or the paper form to top up. Just make sure you have the bond number from the original lodgement before you start this process. So let's have a quick look at the paper of lodgement and top-up form. It's a Form 2 bond lodgement. Only tenants who are bond contributors need to be listed. If they are on the lease but didn't pay towards the bond, then you don't need to put their name on the bond lodgement. Agents and owners should check in with the tenants who has paid and what portion and not make any assumptions. Make sure all the fields are completed, don't skip any and make sure it's all signed. If you are posting in a single or multiple lodgements, please make sure your check or money order adds up to the bonds that have been lodged. So Sarah, one of the questions we are often asked, what do you do if you can't get a signature? So this might be the Agents completed the lodgement form but they can't get the tenants to sign. That's okay. Still please lodge the bond because that 10-day timeframe still applies. You can submit that either online or by the paper form without the signatures and either a signed form can be provided at a later date or the tenants can verify their information online. Great. So let's just have a look at the change of contributors. That can be done through web services or by paper form. This process is used when a tenant or a flatmate is moving out and will transfer their portion of the bond to the new person moving in or to the remaining tenants in the rental property. At the point of the agreement, the tenant moving out needs to ensure that they receive their portion directly from the new person or from those remaining behind. Any of the current contributors can submit a request to the RTA. The RTA notifies the property manager or the owner of any changes in contributors and please note any changes to a tenancy agreement or rooming requires the approval of the agent or the owner. While the majority of situations will see a tenant named on a lease is also the same as who are the bond contributors, there are situations where this is not the case. You might have two people named on the lease but only one person paid the bond or it could be that a family member has paid that bond on behalf of the tenant. Remember, the RTA is looking at who are the contributors, not necessarily the names on the tenancy agreement. So over to you, Sarah. Just stop and just let's have a bit of a chat. What are the issues that we see in this area amongst flatmates changing over? What happens with the bond? Well, you're changing the contributors on a bond, which means the RTA essentially releasing no funds. So you need to sort the funds amongst yourself. So before you sign the form, make sure you've been paid out. And if you have been paid out, make sure you sign the form or agree digitally through web services and it makes it makes its way to the RTA. Do this as soon as possible. Common housemates are often go back overseas or they move on into state and it can be really difficult to try and get a hold of them a second time to fill out any relevant paperwork. And two, Sarah, what happens if someone changes their name? Say due to a marriage or divorce? We don't use the form six, the change of contributors for that, do we? No, we don't. Change of names happen quite often and that's absolutely fine. It's not by using the change of contributors form that you would notify the RTA, but as simple as emailing the RTA to inform yourself the name change, first name, last name, both names, that's fine. And providing that supporting documentation and that could be your driver's license, marriage certificate, applicable name change certificate, any of those accompanying that email and the RTA can make that change. Right. Also known to we have a separate process for bond transfer. Now, I know that it's not as common, but can you please expand on how we would actually accept a bond transfer? Yeah, so bond transfer is for when the address changes only. So everything else is the same, the tenants, the managing party, it's just a change of premises address form three is needed. However, no, it's for only the address. So like the form six, the change of bond contributors just for the names of the bond, the form three change of premises address is just for the address. Right. Okay, let's go back to the presentation. Over to you, Sarah. Here we have so during a tenancy a property could be sold and the management of the tenancy transfers to a new owner or agent, or it could be that the rent roll for a real estate agency or on site management has been sold and requires all bonds to be transferred to the new agency. It's important that if this occurs, the RTA is notified as soon as possible to avoid issues down the track, particularly when a refund is required. These process could be occurring side by side. So make sure that the change of property manager own form is completed at the time of the transfer and not later. A previous owner or real estate agency may be harder to locate after a period of time. If the previous agent or owner is unable to sign supporting documentation such as new management agreement, rate to notice for the owner, and any other evidence to prove ownership or management of the property can be provided to the RTA. And Sarah, from time to time, we do see rent rolls in real estate offices transferred or sold to another office. So what's the best way to manage that transfer when it's quite a large amount of properties that's got bonds with the RTA? Yeah, you only need one change of property manager form for this one. At the very top of the form, you can see that there's the option to select all or partial transfer and then attach a list of bonds with their associated addresses so that we can correctly match. Just those two instead of potentially hundreds of form fives need to be submitted. So just the one single form, attach the bond list with it and we can process that. Okay, let's start on the bond refunds. At the end of the tenancy, notice must be given to end the tenancy and that can be done by either the tenant or the managing party being the landlord or the property manager. But we do recommend all tenants and property managers or owners talk about how the refund is going to be done before they submit a claim. And a greed refund is the quickest way for the bond to be paid out. If there are multiple tenants listed on the bond then all of them are going to need to agree. Either the tenant or the owner or manager can submit a bond request to the RTA and whether that's by the web services or by paper form. So once the handover or vacate date has occurred then the claim can be submitted to the RTA. It can't be before this date and you cannot use a future date. There is past webinars available on our website. One of them is also a guide for tenants in the vacating process with some helpful tips and a timeline guide to help you with the moving process. For owners and managers, if you are claiming all or a portion of the bond please provide the reasons and the claim amounts for each item. Remember do not claim a whole bond if you're not entitled to claim that amount. Only claim what you are entitled to claim. For both tenants and owners and managers start having those conversations in the lead-up to the vacating date just to make sure everyone knows what's going to occur with the vacate inspection and the bond refund. Refunds on bonds will go into Australian bank accounts. It is an offence under Queensland law to knowingly submit false or misleading details on a refund form if you are committing an offence and action can be taken. So please be aware of this in relation to completing any form with the RTA that is done truthfully. An agreed refund is where both the tenant or all the tenants in the managing party agree on how the bond is going to be paid out whether it's a full refund to the tenant or a partial refund. It's usually paid out within 48 hours. If it's not an agreed refund meaning one person whether it's a tenant or the property manager or the owner has not agreed they will start they will have the opportunity to dispute that claim. Sarah is going to go through the process now so over to you Sarah. Thank you. So here we have the web services fast track agreed and not agreed. The RTA receives a bond refund request through the RTA web services and the first step is that we'll enter into the fast track phase. Fast track means that the other parties listed on the bond will have 48 hours to respond and agrees that the bond can be refunded. This is the quickest way. Once everyone agrees that the bond is to be paid out agreement can be submitted at any time and does not require any RTA officer to process. So this can be done on the weekend after and before hours too. Or again we receive a bond refund request it if it's not agreed within the fast track period it will start a notice a claim process which may potentially lead into dispute process and possibly QCAT if it is still not resolved. I will go through the notice a claim process next in more detail. As you can see on both of these diagrams there are steps that will apply along the way and each with a timeframe that needs to be met. The notice a claim process is set out in the legislation. The other party has 14 clear days to respond to the claim and their options will be don't reply to the notice the bond will be paid out after the 14 clear day notice period expires. They accept the claim sign or digitally agree and the bond will be paid out. If they disagree they need to complete a dispute resolution request form either through web services or by paper form and submit to the RTA before the timeframe expires. The bond is then held at the RTA and not paid out until there is an outcome whether this is through an agreement and conciliation or if the matter proceeds to QCAT or order from an adjudicator. If you do do a paper form you can email this through to bonds at rta.qld.gov.au or if you post it in please make sure you allow posters time to ensure we then receive it in time. Once the RTA receives the dispute request it will then go to our free dispute resolution services where a conciliator will be in contact with all parties. Right so Sarah can use both parties still talk to each other can't they even if it does go through to dispute into that dispute process. Oh absolutely there's nothing that should be stopping the parties talking to each other the dispute process should not be discouraging them they should be discussing the bond claim details with each other directly you don't need to wait to talk to a conciliator especially if something as simple as just waiting for that final water meter reading for example. Yeah so get in early still continue to talk it doesn't matter even if it's through the dispute process. Absolutely and there is more information on the process and it could be found on the RTA's website along with past webinars on this topic as well. So with any paper form you submit to the RTA it's really important that you complete the form in full don't miss out anything please use a black or a blue ink and write clearly because we need to make sure that we can read and understand it at our end. Double check numbers and spelling we want to make sure it's correct if there's multiple tenants on the bond lodgement or the bond refund getting a refund then make sure the amounts tally up to that total lodged. For tenants never sign a blank form make sure all the fields are completed and you agree with how the bond is going to be refunded double check any bank account numbers to make sure that they're correct. So Sarah are there any other issues that we see that would actually help clients with their paper forms? Yeah so these forms they are being posted and manually processed so they do take longer so factor in the time before expecting the refunds if you are going to be posting it through consider how long it may take to actually get to the RTA first and please if you have made any changes and used whiteout consider the readability of the form if it's unclear and intent is an obvious any changes need to be signed by everyone so it may be easier just to start a new form we don't want to be guessing who gets how much and underpay anyone. Right so the COVID-19 regulations extended until September 2021 if a tenant is experiencing domestic and family violence they can end their interest in the tenancy and give seven days notice to their landlord or agent and leave they can however leave immediately and there is an RTA webinar on the COVID-19 regulations and the process to follow that they can also complete a refund form and submit that to the RTA to request their portion of the bond if they have contributed to one they will need to supply a copy of the notice that they did send to their landlord or agent along with the required supporting documentation and then the RTA will refund their contribution we suggest tenants who are in this situation read the information that's available on the website and also if you do require further assistance please contact our RTA call centre. These services is a secure online bond management facility you'll find a lot of real set agents property managers or owners who manage large portfolio of tenancies will use this service agents are able to do 100 refunds to tenants through these services but please double check the accuracy of tenants bank account details agents can also search for bond number held under their agency and they also have the opportunity to review all the bonds that is held at the RTA under their agency name so this is good for licences and ordered opportunities to ensure all the bonds that are managed by their agency are held at the RTA so before we keep going Sarah we have covered a lot in the various bond processes are there any other tips or information that you can share with our clients today regarding all things bonds certainly for tenants keep your information up to date not just for the refund process because of course you can have a change of contributor at any time you can update your information with the RTA and you can contact us you can do it online you can also email us and you mentioned before like with any changes to a form you know if you're using wide out or everything like that you actually do need to have initials and signing off on any amendments you do and it's worth double checking again having a look at that form if it's all sort of squeezed in it's it could really affect the readability of it so consider it just might be easier to start a new form because you need everyone to sign it again anyway you're going to be contacting them get that new form submit it to the RTA double check submit it get it into us on a timely matter and it'll just make it all the easier for processing for that quicker refund and I mentioned sorry I mentioned before about we refund to Australian bank accounts and what would be your tip like leave the bank account open if you're heading overseas or how would that work if you're heading overseas I do recommend leave that bank account open just a little bit longer alternatively if you've got a friend or family member who's still here you could always nominate their account you do need to sign in order to nominate another person to receive your fund on your behalf and I think too with any of those changes during the tenancy to make sure that we receive that information when it actually happens I know that we've seen a lot of people over the time that they changed shared tenancy arrangements like six months ago but they've got to do all the forms and the next thing the people that we have listed it's the bond have well and truly long gone that's right and it's it could be really hard to find them right I do recommend as well when it does come to the refund as well talk to each other if it's possible aim to submit only ever one form to the RTA for the refund and ideally that would be in agreed form it just makes it sweet and simple gets it sorted sooner rather than later if not get those lines of communication going and talk to each other about any plans that might be made against the bond right okay just go back to the presentation to help you in knowing how to use web services we have a lot of education and information available by way of webinars how to videos frequently asked questions and step-by-step instructions so if you're unable to use web services you can always download and print a form from our website or if you're unable to print please give us a call at the RTA's call centre and we can post you out of form you can connect with the RTA by subscribing to the RTA news for regular updates on current topics if you are currently subscribed you may have been recently asked to re-subscribe to confirm your subscription and I encourage you to do so that way then you'll continue to receive the RTA news emails you can also follow us on LinkedIn the RTA produces various educational resources and that includes webinars on Tennessee legislation and key topics as well as our Talking Tennessee podcast you can subscribe for these resources and access both of these through the RTA's website or for podcasts through your preferred app whether that's Spotify, Apple or Google podcasts the RTA's website has a lot of information resources forms back sheets publications and all the educational resources and that's available at rta.qld.gov.au remember you can access the RTA's website and our RTA web services 24 hours a day seven days a week or find our friendly contact centre staff on 1300 3 6 3 1 Monday to Friday 8 30 a.m to 5 p.m excluding the public holidays so thanks so much for joining in with me today and sharing your knowledge on today's topic it's been a pleasure thank you