Penalty for Not Lodging a Rental Bond in the ACT

It's a Strict Liability Offence

Section 23 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 doesn't give you a warning first. A private lessor who holds bond money beyond the 14-day lodgement window — 14 calendar days from receipt of the funds or from the tenancy start date, whichever is later — commits a strict-liability offence. That means the offence does not require proof that you intended to keep the money.

The maximum penalty is 20 penalty units: $3,200 for an individual lessor or $16,200 for a corporation at the current ACT penalty unit values. Licensed agents get a longer window (28 days), but the offence and the penalty are the same.

Why Landlords Miss the Deadline

Most landlords who miss the deadline aren't trying to pocket the bond. They run into practical problems:

Portal session issues. The ACT Rental Bonds Portal doesn't save drafts. If you start a lodgement and can't finish it in one session — missing a tenant's email address, wrong property details, session timeout — you have to start over. Multiple false starts can eat into your 14 days.

Bank transfer delays. After you generate the payment reference in the portal, the actual EFT transfer can take 7 to 14 days to reconcile into the Revenue Office trust account. If you create the portal record on day 10, the funds might not clear until day 24. The lodgement isn't complete until the money arrives.

Partial instalments. If you accept the bond in agreed partial instalments, each separately paid instalment triggers its own lodgement requirement. Track each payment and its lodgement deadline. Standard practice is to collect the entire bond before handing over keys.

Ignorance of ACT-specific rules. Landlords who previously managed property in NSW may be familiar with a different deadline. NSW requires a landlord who receives a bond to lodge it within 10 business days; in the ACT, private lessors have 14 calendar days. The day counts differ, so don't assume the deadlines are interchangeable.

How to Stay Clear

The fix is straightforward:

1. Collect the full bond before or on the day of key handover. Don't start a tenancy with a partial bond and a promise.
2. Create the portal record within the first three days. Have all tenant contact details and property information ready before you sit down.
3. Initiate the EFT immediately after generating the payment reference. Don't wait a week to transfer.
4. Track the reconciliation. If the Bond Lodgement Receipt hasn't arrived by day 10, contact the Rental Bonds Office at (02) 6207 0028 to check the status.

The Downstream Risk

Beyond the fine itself, an unlodged bond creates problems at the end of the tenancy. If you never lodged the bond, there's no Revenue Office record — which means you can't use the standard refund or dispute processes. Any end-of-tenancy claim for deductions becomes far harder to enforce, and a tenant can report the unlodged bond to Access Canberra.

Our ACT Rental Bond Guide includes a Pre-Lodgement Checklist and a 14-Day Response Tracker that maps every deadline from the day you collect the bond.

See more Australian Capital Territory guides →