Three working days. That's all you get.
When your tenant hands back the keys, Section 28 of the Residential Tenancy Act gives you three working days to initiate a bond claim through MyBond. Miss it and the tenant can request a full refund — and the burden of proof flips to you.
Most private landlords in Tasmania don't discover this until it's too late. They're still taking photos of the scuff marks when the statutory clock runs out.
The Bond Compliance System for Tasmanian Landlords
This guide turns the entire bond lifecycle — from taking the deposit to returning it — into a dated, step-by-step process you can follow without a property manager, without a solicitor, and without guessing whether you've done it right.
It covers the Residential Tenancy Act 1997 as at October 2026: the three statutory bodies (CBOS, the Rental Deposit Authority and the Residential Tenancy Commissioner), every portal workflow, every deadline, and every form — with compliance worksheets that keep your paperwork audit-ready from day one.
What's Inside
- Bond cap and conversion formulas — exactly how to calculate the maximum bond (four weeks' rent), including for rent paid fortnightly or monthly, so you never collect a dollar more than the law allows.
- MyBond portal walkthrough — owner registration, Tenant ID collection, creating a lodgement record, handling third-party deposit contributors (Anglicare Tasmania, Loreto Community Housing, Homes Tasmania programs), and processing tenant transfers for sharehouses — step by step through the online system that replaced paper forms.
- Condition report protocol — the Section 26 requirements, the two-day tenant inspection window, room-by-room guidance, and photo-logging standards that build the baseline evidence you'll need at move-out.
- End-of-tenancy claim timeline — the three-working-day Section 28 window broken into concrete tasks: final inspection, evidence compilation, MyBond claim submission, and what happens if the tenant disputes.
- RTC dispute preparation — how the Residential Tenancy Commissioner resolves bond disputes, what evidence the Commissioner accepts, statutory depreciation rules, and how to structure your submission so it doesn't get thrown out on a technicality.
- Magistrates Court appeals — the strict seven-day filing deadline, what the court reviews, and when an appeal is (and isn't) worth pursuing.
- Penalties and tax treatment — the statutory penalties for late lodgement, holding bond money privately, and failing to provide receipts, plus how returned and forfeited bonds affect your tax return.
- Dated compliance checklist — every step from pre-lease to final release on two printable pages, with the deadline and the form or portal action for each.
- Seven fillable worksheets — Bond Calculation Worksheet, MyBond Lodgement Checklist, Condition Report Completion Guide, Tenant Transfer Worksheet, End-of-Tenancy Claim Tracker, RTC Evidence Index Sheet, and Rental Bond Logbook — print and write on them at the point of use.
Who This Is For
- Private landlords in Tasmania who manage their own rental without an agent
- Accidental landlords renting out an inherited property or a former home
- Landlords taking back management from a real estate agent and need to transfer the bond record in MyBond
- Owners of a shared house who need to handle tenant swaps and partial bond variations correctly
- Any Tasmanian landlord who wants every bond obligation, deadline and form in one place before something goes wrong
Why Not Just Use the CBOS Website?
Consumer, Building and Occupational Services publishes the rules — across dozens of sub-pages, separate PDF downloads, and the MyBond portal itself. What it doesn't publish is a workflow: which steps come first, what to collect before you start, how the condition report connects to the claim you'll submit months later, or what happens when the tenant's version of events doesn't match yours.
The free information tells you what the law requires. This guide tells you how to meet every requirement in order, with the worksheets to prove you did it.
You're Covered
Full refund, no time limit. If the guide doesn't give you the clarity you needed, email [email protected] and we'll refund the full amount. No form, no questions.
Get the Full Bond Compliance System
Download the free checklist to see every step at a glance — or get the full guide with portal walkthroughs, seven fillable worksheets and dispute preparation for .
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the rules change after I buy?
We update the guide when the rules change. Email us any time, even years later, and we'll send you the current edition free.