{"id":68368,"date":"2026-08-09T22:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68368\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T22:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:27:15","slug":"new-portable-bond-scheme-for-nsw-renters-starts-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68368\/","title":{"rendered":"New portable bond scheme for NSW renters starts today"},"content":{"rendered":"

From today, renters moving into selected New South Wales suburbs can transfer their existing bonds to their new rental properties, potentially saving thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

The government’s Smart Rental Bonds scheme is now live, but currently it is only available in the Parramatta, Penrith and Central Coast local government areas.<\/p>\n

The system is being introduced a year later than expected and it won’t be free to use, but the government thinks it will be popular with renters.<\/p>\n

What is the scheme?<\/p>\n

Smart Rental Bonds is designed to remove one of the financial headaches many renters experience when they are moving from one property to another.<\/p>\n

Having been accepted for a rental, they may be required to find thousands of dollars to pay a bond for the new property before their old bond is returned to them.<\/p>\n

Shelter NSW CEO John Engeler said the stress of finding cash to cover another bond can be a major barrier to moving.<\/p>\n

“It might seem like it’s not a big deal, but for people on low and very low incomes, this is a game changer,” he said.\"Shelter<\/p>\n

John Engeler calls the scheme a “game changer”. (Supplied: Homes NSW)<\/p>\n

Some tenants have to borrow money, he added, or go without food in order to scrape together another deposit.<\/p>\n

To overcome this, Smart Rental Bonds allows renters to transfer their existing bond to their new property via an online portal.<\/p>\n

How does it work\uff1f<\/p>\n

Renters will have to pay a $25 application fee to use the online service, overseen by NSW Fair Trading.<\/p>\n

They will have to nominate which bond they would like to transfer, choose where they want it sent, then pay the difference if the new bond is higher.<\/p>\n

For example, if the existing bond is $2,400 but the new bond is $2,700, the tenant will need to make a $300 top-up payment in order to transfer it.<\/p>\n

If the new bond is cheaper than the existing one, the tenant will be refunded as long as no claim is made against the existing bond.<\/p>\n

How do landlords make claims against the bond\uff1f<\/p>\n

The process of deducting money from a bond will not fundamentally change for the landlord.<\/p>\n

If a landlord believes they are owed money due to unpaid rent or damage, they can make a claim against the bond.<\/p>\n

If the tenant agrees to the claim, the government will pay the landlord directly and the renter will have to pay the government back within 28 days.<\/p>\n

\"For<\/p>\n

The process for landlords for deducting money from a bond will not change. (ABC News: Jack Ailwood)<\/p>\n

If the tenant disputes the claim, the matter can be determined by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).<\/p>\n

The government will only pay a landlord’s claim once there is an agreement with the tenant or an order from NCAT.<\/p>\n

Who can use it\uff1f<\/p>\n

For now, only renters moving into properties in the Parramatta, Penrith and Central Coast local government areas can use Smart Rental Bonds.<\/p>\n

Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the scheme needed to be scaled up gradually.<\/p>\n

“You’re talking close to a million bonds and $2.3 billion worth of renters’ money,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Having a planned, phased process ensures that the system works smoothly and actually instils trust and confidence.”\"Dressed<\/p>\n

Anoulack Chanthivong says there are about a million bonds in NSW worth $2.3 billion. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)<\/p>\n

The government had hoped to deliver the scheme by late 2025, but delayed its launch until mid-2026 to ensure it could roll out smoothly.<\/p>\n

Mr Chanthivong said more locations would be added in the coming months.<\/p>\n

“If things go well, every renter across New South Wales will have access to Smart Rental Bonds by the end of the year.”<\/p>\n

Why the fee\uff1f<\/p>\n

The $25 fee is payable every time a renter wants to transfer their bond.<\/p>\n

While the scheme has been welcomed by the Tenants’ Union of NSW, the fee has not.<\/p>\n

When the government announced the details earlier this year, the Tenants’ Union said the $25 charge would disproportionately affect renters on low incomes.<\/p>\n

\"Renters<\/p>\n

The online rental bond service will cost renters $25.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Mr Chanthivong said the fee would help cover the scheme’s administration costs and insisted the government wasn’t trying to profit.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very small investment from renters of $25, which potentially saves them up to $4,000,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Engeler said while he would prefer the scheme to be free, he believed the application fee would be worth it.<\/p>\n

“At $25, I think most reasonable people would say that’s a lot less of an impediment than $2,500 or what an average four-week bond would be,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Let’s not worry about the cents. We’re talking about big dollars.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From today, renters moving into selected New South Wales suburbs can transfer their existing bonds to their new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36898,9093,22,21,54414,16027,1098,90102,90101,3971,90100],"class_list":["post-68368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-tenants","tag-anoulack-chanthivong","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bond","tag-central-coast","tag-nsw-government","tag-portable-bond-scheme","tag-renters-in-nsw","tag-renting","tag-smart-rental-bonds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}