News
The Tenancy bond service is changing
Tenancy Services are changing the tenancy bond service so bond transactions can be quicker and easier for you.
Broad changes to the tenancy bond service will be introduced over the coming months to make bond transactions more efficient. The changes will also give you greater visibility and control of your bond transactions.
Tenancy Services will provide regular updates on this page to keep you up to date on the latest changes as they are introduced and what it means for you.
Better customer experience for you
Bonds charged for a tenancy must be lodged with Tenancy Services, where required. It is therefore important to continue to provide an efficient service that makes bond transactions simple and easy for you.
Charging a bond - external link
The modern tenancy bond service will make bond transactions quicker and easier for property managers, private landlords and tenants. There will also be new ways for property managers to manage bond transactions and information on your bond records.
Improved data accuracy on bond records
The current system has been in use for 24 years, it is mostly paper based and can take some time to manually process the information you provide. The new system will be a digital-first service so information on your bond records can be more accurate and complete.
This will make it quicker and easier to process bond transactions later in your tenancy, and to update information on your bond records.
Easier bond lodgements from late November
All bonds already lodged will not be affected and you do not need to do anything.
From late November, you will need to lodge new bonds digitally by using:
- a new online form for bond lodgements on our Tenancy Services website, or
- property management software that is ready for the new business-to-business connection.
Account2Account and credit card payments will be available when using the new online form.
Bond lodgements by email or post will no longer be available.
If you need help with lodging bonds on the website, please call the Service Centre on 0800 TENANCY (0800 836 262). They cannot lodge the bond for you over the phone, but can talk you through how to use the online form.
Tenant(s) and the landlord will continue to receive a notification when a bond is lodged.
Lodge your bond online - external link
New business-to-business connection
A new business-to-business connection will be available for property management software to integrate with our new system. If you currently use software to manage your tenancies, ask your software vendor if this new connection is available to you or how to use this new function.
Your software vendor will need you to complete a one-off registration before you can use the new business-to-business connection. Speak with your software vendor for help with this registration process.
Bulk bond lodgement, or lodging more than one bond in a single transaction, will be available through this new business-to-business connection. This will help landlords and property managers to manage bond transactions more efficiently.
Direct debit and direct credit payment will be available through the new connection.
New online form for lodging top-up bonds
You will need to use a new online form for bond top-up on our Tenancy Services website.
Changes to bond refunds and other transactions coming soon
For now, the process for bond refunds, bond transfers or to change information on a bond record stays the same. However, there are new forms for these requests so please make sure you are using the latest version available on our Tenancy Services website.
Refunding bond - external link
Transferring bond to a new tenancy - external link
Changing information on a bond record - external link
These bond transactions will also move online soon to make it quicker and easier for you to get your bond money back, transfer your bond to a new tenancy or to update information on your bond record.
Source: Tenancy Services