Moving rentals this summer? Your bond can now move with you in NSW and Victoria

For renters, moving house has often meant paying a new bond before the old one is returned. In New South Wales and Victoria that is now optional for anyone who qualifies: both states will move an existing bond to the next rental for A$25, sparing them what both governments call the “double bond”. The bond transfer is one of several rental law changes 2026 has brought to the two states that apply at the point of moving.

Renting is more common than average in homes where someone was born in India. At the 2021 Census, 41.5 per cent of occupied private dwellings in Australia with at least one India-born occupant were rented, against 30.6 per cent of all occupied private dwellings.

One fee, two sets of fine print

Victoria moved first. Its Portable Rental Bond Scheme began on 1 July, with transfers made through the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA), which holds Victorian rental bonds in trust. Guidance on it is published in ten languages other than English, among them Hindi and Punjabi. NSW launched Smart Rental Bonds on 10 August in Parramatta, Penrith and the Central Coast, and opened it statewide on 16 September, earlier than planned. In the month that followed, more than 1,800 NSW households transferred more than A$5 million in bonds, the state government said on 15 October.

The mechanics are close. The renter pays the fee and, where the new bond is higher, the difference. The old landlord can still claim against the old bond. If the claim is agreed or ordered, the government pays it and the renter repays the government: within 28 days of a Revenue NSW invoice, or in Victoria within eight weeks of a government notice unless the renter takes up a payment plan. By mid-October, on the government’s figures, more than 95 per cent of bonds transferred in NSW had drawn no claim.

The differences lie in who qualifies. NSW requires the same tenants on both leases and allows four weeks of overlap: the renter must leave the old home within four weeks of entering the new one. In Victoria the renters’ details must “match exactly on both bonds”, including the spelling of each name and the date of birth, and the new lease must already be signed. Neither scheme covers share-house members splitting up for different addresses. Victoria’s guidance adds that two people moving in together from separate rentals cannot combine their bonds.

Telling the landlord, or not

In NSW the new landlord need not find out. NSW Fair Trading calls a transfer “a private transaction between you and the NSW Government”. Renters do not have to say on an application how they will pay the bond, and landlords and agents are not notified.

Victoria’s process starts with the renter telling the new rental provider or agent that the bond will be paid straight to the RTBA. Since 9 September a renter can make that choice by written notice, and the provider must then select it when lodging the bond. The law gives the renter two days to pay once the RTBA’s request arrives. Any renter can pay this way, transferring or not. Turning down a renter because of that choice is due to become an offence on 1 June 2027.

Proof before a Victorian bond claim

Victoria’s latest changes took effect on Tuesday 13 October. A rental provider who intends to claim any part of a bond must now give each renter the evidence for the claim at least three days before lodging it, in the form of “invoices, receipts, quotes or photographs”, and that evidence must not conflict with the condition report. Providers and agents can no longer charge renters fees for applications or rent payments, a ban that has applied to rental apps and payment platforms since 31 March. Since then, too, applications have gone on a standard form, and providers may ask only for what it covers.

More is set for 1 June 2027. Lease-break fees will be capped. Providers and agents must not unreasonably refuse a request for an extra key or fob, though they may charge a reasonable fee for it, and deactivating one becomes an offence unless permitted. Turning away an applicant because they have experienced family or personal violence will also be barred.

The other rental law changes 2026 brought to NSW

Since 2 October, a NSW tenant moving in with a pet who applies for consent within seven days of entering into the lease can keep the animal at the property while the landlord decides. The landlord still has 21 days to respond, and if no answer comes in that time the pet is “automatically approved without conditions”. A refusal does not mean the animal leaves that day: the tenant has 21 days, longer if the refusal goes to the Tribunal. A tenant who misses the seven-day window needs consent before the pet moves in.

From 2 March, landlords and agents have also had to offer Centrepay, which deducts rent from a Centrelink payment, as a fee-free way to pay. Changes from 21 September made it easier for victim-survivors of domestic violence to end a tenancy early. NSW’s own standard application form is still to come: laws passed in September, expected to take effect in early 2027, will require one, and will allow ID documents to be collected only from the preferred applicant, before the lease is signed.

The double bond was the cost both governments set out to remove, and the price of avoiding it is A$25 on either side of the Murray. The schemes part ways on timing and paperwork: four weeks to leave the old home in NSW, an exact match of names and birthdates in Victoria. Either way, a claim agreed or ordered after the move is paid by the government first and by the renter later.