Tasmania Rental Bond Receipt Requirements for Landlords

Why the Receipt Matters More Than You Think

Every Tasmanian landlord or agent who receives a security deposit must issue a written receipt to the tenant immediately. That is not a courtesy — it is a statutory obligation under Section 21 of the Residential Tenancy Act 1997.

The receipt also protects you. If a dispute reaches the Residential Tenancy Commissioner, the receipt helps show the amount collected, the date, and who paid it. Without it, you have weaker evidence of what was paid and when.

What the Receipt Must Include

Section 21 and Section 25 prescribe five mandatory details. Leave any one out, and the receipt does not satisfy the statute.

1. The amount received — the exact dollar figure, matching the bond amount in the tenancy agreement (capped at four weeks' rent under Section 25(1)).
2. The date of receipt — the calendar date cleared funds reached you, not the date the tenant initiated a transfer.
3. The full legal name of every contributing tenant — if two people split the bond, both names appear. Initials or nicknames are not sufficient.
4. The property address — the full street address of the rented premises.
5. A statement identifying the payment as a security deposit — the receipt must say the money is a "security deposit" or "rental bond," not rent, a holding fee, or an application charge. Section 17 separately prohibits payments connected with a tenancy outside the permitted categories, including fees relabelled to disguise them.

When to Issue It

The receipt must be issued at the time you receive the funds. In practice, that means the same business day.

If the tenant pays the Rental Deposit Authority directly through MyBond, you have not received the bond funds yourself and do not issue a receipt for money you did not collect. Once cleared funds arrive, the RDA issues a digital Bond Lodgement Certificate to the registered parties as proof of lodgement.

You need to issue your own receipt when you directly receive bond money before lodging it with the RDA. Private landlords who collect the bond and then lodge it through MyBond within the two-to-three business day operational window must receipt the payment on the day they receive it, not the day they lodge it.

Paper Receipts vs Digital Records

The Act requires a written receipt. Use a record that clearly shows all five required fields and can be kept in your tenancy file. If you use a bank transfer confirmation or text message, it must itself contain all five details to serve as the written receipt.

A bank transfer confirmation or text message can serve as the written receipt only if it contains all five required fields. A verbal acknowledgement does not meet the written-receipt requirement.

Bond Receipts When a Third-Party Pays

When a deposit contributor — Anglicare Tasmania, Loreto Community Housing, or an approved Homes Tasmania program — pays all or part of the bond on a tenant's behalf, the contributor's details are recorded in MyBond and on the RDA's Bond Lodgement Certificate. If you do not receive the funds yourself, keep a copy of the certificate rather than issuing a receipt for money you did not collect. If a dispute arises, the contributor has independent rights under Section 29D to receive notice and to initiate or dispute the claim process.

What Happens If You Skip the Receipt

If you cannot produce a written receipt, your tenancy file has less evidence of the payment amount, date, and payer. Keep the receipt with your MyBond lodgement record so you can show what was collected and when.

The fix is straightforward. Issue the receipt on the day you receive the money, keep a copy with your tenancy file, and move on to lodging the bond through MyBond or the Service Tasmania paper route within the required timeframe.

Our Tasmania Rental Bond Guide includes a receipt template with all five statutory fields pre-formatted, along with a lodgement checklist that tracks the receipt, the MyBond submission, and the condition report in a single compliance workflow.

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