The State Government launched a new bond release and disposal process at the end of March. It allows property managers, investment property owners and tenants to apply for the release of the bond at the end of a tenancy. Most disputes over the bond can now go through a Commissioner determinations process, rather than to court.

REIWA was supportive of the changes. We believed the determination process would prevent lengthy court processes and would help tenants get their bond returned in a timely manner.

Unfortunately, reality has not lived up to expectations. It is taking a significant amount of time for bond applications to be reviewed and finalised.

Consumer Protection has informed REIWA it can take eight weeks from when a dispute over the bond is lodged for an initial review by a determinations officer. For straightforward matters, where all necessary evidence has been provided, it may then take a couple of days for the bond to be finalised and paid out to the relevant party.

However, many applications require additional information, which adds more time to an already lengthy process.

This is not acceptable. The delay in resolving these disputes has real consequences for tenants who will have moving costs and will need to pay a bond on their next rental home. There are also impacts on investment property owners due to the delay of funds owed being paid to them, and challenges for property managers in managing communications and parties’ expectations.

While there are some things property managers can do to help reduce delays when bond applications enter the determinations process, they cannot improve the eight-week timeframe from a dispute being lodged to it being viewed by a determinations officer.

At the time of the launch, I said the success of this process was dependent on the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety’s Consumer Protection division being resourced sufficiently. The significant timeframes taken to view and resolve a dispute are due to staffing constraints within Consumer Protection. REIWA has written to Minister for Commerce Tony Buti requesting an urgent increase in funding for additional staff in the bonds determinations team. This will benefit everyone involved, particularly tenants.

Meanwhile, tenants can facilitate the resolution of their bond application by ensuring contact details are correct for everyone on the lease. Also, if there are two or more people on the lease and all agree with how it will be disposed, everyone must respond to the notifications from the Bond Administrator. If one person does not respond, the bond is automatically considered to be in dispute and will enter the lengthy dispute resolution process.