29 April 2019

Hot tip: Avoid costly bond lodgement failures

For long-stay tenancy agreements, park operators are legally required to lodge bonds within 14 days of receiving the funds.  Bonds must be lodged with either the Bond Administrator or the funds are to be deposited into a separate tenancy bond account with a financial institution where the account held in the names of both you as the park operator and the long-stay tenant and entitled “tenancy bond account”.

Did you know? Approximately 30-40% of bond lodgement failures are the result of invalid direct debit account types provided on lodgement forms. Online bank accounts, popular with both lessors and tenants, are commonly used. However, banks prohibit Consumer Protection from direct debiting online bank accounts as well as:

• bonus saver bank accounts;
• mortgage accounts;
• mortgage offset accounts;
• superannuation accounts; and
• investment accounts.

The bond lodgement payment process doesn’t allow us to differentiate between online or transaction accounts. That means we can’t catch the error before the bank issues us a payment dishonour notice. Often the account owner ends up with a payment dishonour fee as well.

“Park operators can face criminal convictions and fines of up to $20,000 if they violate these important aspects of tenancy law,” warns Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard.

On 21 March 2019 landlord Mark Alasdair Adam was convicted in Perth Magistrates Court and fined $10,000 after failing to lodge tenant bonds from two separate tenants.

Avoid unnecessary prosecution and fines - visit our website to learn about bonds and start up fees as well as lodging a bond and your legal obligations as a park operator.

Coming soon: DMIRS Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey

As a user of the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) services (licensee, tenant, registered organisation, business or consumer), you may be contacted through an email from DMIRS and invited to take part in the 2019 DMIRS Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey. The survey is being run by Ipsos to help DMIRS measure its performance.