A bond is a security deposit a tenant gives the landlord - or a resident gives the proprietor of a rooming house or residential park - before they move in. The bond is lodged with Consumer and Business Services (CBS) in a trust account and cannot be used by the landlord during the tenancy.
The bond is returned to the tenant or resident when they move out, unless some or all of the money is claimed for extra cleaning, outstanding rent or other legitimate costs.
Related information
Agents must use Residential Bonds Online (RBO) to lodge a bond. Landlords, tenants and park residents can choose to use RBO or lodge a bond manually.
SA Housing Trust bond guarantees can also be lodged using RBO.
Maximum amount of bond
There are limits on the amount of bond that can be requested at the start of a tenancy.
Maximum amount of bond for each type of tenancy
Paying and lodging a bond
There are several ways bonds can be paid for and lodged.
Landlords
You can use RBO to lodge a bond.
Use the bond lodgement form (614.9 KB PDF) if you are lodging the bond by email or post. Make cheques payable to ‘Residential Tenancies Fund’ or fill in the direct debit section on the back of the form.
You will receive a receipt by email.
Lodging instalments
- Lodge the first bond instalment using the form.
- Record the bond number.
- Lodge further instalments using a new bond lodgement form and include the original bond number.
Tenants and residents
Tenants or residents can:
- pay with:
- a credit or debit card within their RBO account
- SA Housing Trust bond guarantee
- lodge it using RBO or give the bond guarantee details to the person managing the property so they can lodge it
- transfer the funds:
- complete a payment form with direct debit and lodgement details
- email or post it to CBS
- visit the CBS customer service centre in person to lodge it and pay at the counter by:
- cheque
- money order
- cash or card.
Using RBO to lodge a bond
RBO allows each person to manage their part of a bond payment, lodgement, management and refund. It can be used by:
- tenants and park residents
- landlords, proprietors, park managers
- real estate agents and property managers.
- Tenants and residents can pay their bond using a debit or credit card when they lodge a bond through their RBO account.
- Real estate agents must use RBO. This includes for SA Housing Trust bond guarantees.
- Landlords who self-manage their rental can manage bond lodgement and refund processes by creating an RBO account.
New accounts and ID verification
You can create a new account using the RBO portal.
All new RBO accounts require verification as part of the sign-up process. This keeps details secure. Check that you have the correct ID needed for your role:
Tenants and residents
An identity check by the national Document Verification Service is required. Check you can provide the correct type of identification documents when signing up.
Link your account to your bond
You'll also need the details of the person or business managing our property, and the date your tenancy sill start and end.
This information might have already been filled in by the person managing your property so could mean you only need to check it is correct.
Landlords managing their own rental property (individuals)
An identity check by the national Document Verification Service is required. Check you can provide the correct type of identification documents when signing up.
You can create a bond payment request to send to a tenant from within the portal once you have an account.
Real estate agents, park operators and proprietors (businesses and organisations)
Business and organisations new to RBO will need to verify their credentials when creating a new account.
- Real estate agents need to provide their license number.
- Park operators need to verify the park’s address.
- Proprietors and organisations will need to verify their ABN or ACN.
Once set up, you can create a bond payment request to send to a tenant from within the portal.
