A rental bond in South Australia is money the tenant pays at the start of a lease as security, held by the state government rather than the landlord, and returned at the end unless there is a claim against it. The rules on how much it can be, who must lodge it and how disputes are settled are set by the Residential Tenancies Act and administered by Consumer and Business Services. Here they are in plain terms, with the figures as CBS publishes them.
How much can a rental bond be in South Australia?
Up to four weeks’ rent where the weekly rent is $800 or less, and up to six weeks’ rent where the weekly rent is more than $800. That is the maximum a landlord or agent can ask for on a residential tenancy agreement. For a rooming house agreement the maximum is two weeks’ rent.
In practice: a home renting at $550 a week can carry a bond of up to $2,200, and one at $900 a week up to $5,400. The bond is the only security a landlord can take. The only other money that can be asked for at the start of a tenancy is rent in advance, capped at two weeks. Whoever receives the bond must give the tenant a receipt within 48 hours.
Who lodges the bond, and by when?
The person who receives it must lodge it with Consumer and Business Services (CBS) through Residential Bonds Online, known as RBO. A private landlord has two weeks from receiving the bond to lodge it. A registered agent has four weeks. Tenants can also lodge the bond themselves through their own RBO account, or connect to a bond the landlord has lodged, so they can see it and claim it later without going through anyone.
The bond then sits with CBS, not with the landlord or the agency, for the whole tenancy. That is the point of the system: nobody holds the tenant’s money except the government. If SA Housing Trust has provided the bond as a guarantee, it checks in every twelve months and at the end of the lease, and the tenant needs to respond or the guarantee can be released.
How do I get my bond back at the end of a lease?
Claim it through RBO once you have moved out. If nobody disputes the claim, CBS processes the refund within five working days: an electronic transfer arrives in 24 to 48 hours, a cheque in five to ten business days. Where several tenants are on the bond, any one of them with an RBO account can start the refund and nominate how much each person receives, and CBS pays everyone once all tenants and the managing party have agreed.
Two things speed this up. Keep your Australian bank account open until the money lands, because a closed account means an international money transfer form and fees taken out of the bond. And keep your contact details in RBO current, so you are notified the moment anything is lodged against the bond.
What happens if the landlord and I disagree about the bond?
Whoever claims first without the other side’s agreement is making a non-consented claim, and it runs through RBO with set steps and deadlines. A managing party, meaning the agent or landlord, must give CBS evidence for the amount claimed, such as the entry and exit inspection reports, photos and invoices. The tenant can then accept the claim, make a counter-offer, escalate it to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT), or do nothing.
Doing nothing is not neutral. A tenant who does not respond by the date on the notice is treated as silent, and CBS decides on the evidence alone: if it is sufficient, the amount goes to the managing party; if not, CBS refuses the claim and the managing party has to go to SACAT. The reverse also applies. If a tenant claims the bond and the managing party does not respond within 14 days, the tenant is paid what they asked for.
Counter-offers are the newer part of the process. Each one gives the other side ten days to answer, and the parties can go back and forth up to seven times before the matter must be referred to SACAT. Once SACAT is involved CBS steps out, and releases the bond in whatever split the tribunal orders.
Is there a time limit for claiming a bond?
No. The bond stays lodged with CBS until a tenant or landlord submits a claim, however long that takes. There is one exception: if the managing party claims more than twelve months after the tenancy ended, the claim goes straight to SACAT rather than through the RBO process.
Money that could not be paid out because of wrong bank details becomes an unclaimed bond. Within 90 days the tenant can simply log in to RBO and restart the refund; after 90 days a separate process applies. CBS runs a bond status search on its website for anyone who thinks they have money waiting.
What does a managing agent actually do with the bond?
Lodge it, document the property, and claim only what the evidence supports. At Wemark the bond is lodged through RBO inside the legal timeframe, the tenant gets an entry condition report with photographs before they move in, and the same report is the basis for the exit inspection. That is what makes a claim provable, and it is also what protects a tenant from an unfair one: CBS decides disputed claims on evidence, and fair wear and tear is never claimable.
If you are a landlord managing your own property, the two-week lodgement deadline and the evidence rules are yours to meet. If that is more than you want to carry, our Adelaide property managers handle bonds, inspections and any dispute as part of the management fee, and switching from another agent takes one signed form.
Sources
- Bonds FAQs, Consumer and Business Services: maximum bond, receipts, refund times, unclaimed bonds, time limits.
- Settling a bond dispute, Consumer and Business Services: non-consented claims, silent tenants, the 14-day response, counter-offers and SACAT.
- Rent and bond payments, SA.GOV.AU (page updated 14 August 2025): lodgement deadlines for landlords and agents, rent in advance, bond guarantees.
Residential bond enquiries: CBS on 131 882, option 2. This guide is general information, not legal advice; the CBS pages above are the authority if anything here has changed since it was checked.