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Getting Your Bond Back in New Zealand

The first fact changes the whole negotiation: your bond is not the landlord's money to "release". It sits with Tenancy Services (maximum four weeks' rent, lodged within 23 working days of payment), and it moves only by joint agreement or a Tenancy Tribunal decision. Fair wear and tear is not damage, cleaning standards are "reasonably clean", and a landlord who never lodged the bond has committed an unlawful act. Call 0800 461 100 free, any hour, before you sign any refund form you disagree with.

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Tenancy Bond at a glance

Where the bond lives

With Tenancy Services (government-held) — landlords must lodge bonds within 23 working days; holding one back is an unlawful act with exemplary damages

Maximum

Four weeks' rent — plus, since 1 December 2025, a possible pet bond of up to two weeks (one per tenancy)

How it is refunded

A refund form signed by both sides — or, where you disagree, a Tenancy Tribunal decision; never sign for deductions you dispute

The standard you owe

Reasonably clean and tidy, with damage beyond fair wear and tear made good — not "as new", and not professionally cleaned unless genuinely required

Your best weapon

Evidence: the entry condition report, dated photos at exit, and the correspondence

Fair wear and tear vs damage — where refunds are won

Bond deductions are lawful only for what you owe: rent arrears, and damage beyond fair wear and tear. Fair wear and tear is the ordinary ageing of a lived-in home — traffic-worn carpet, faded paint, minor scuffs, sun-perished curtains — and it is the landlord's cost, not yours. Damage is the broken window, the wine-stained carpet, the hole behind the door. Cleaning sits on its own rule: the standard is reasonably clean and tidy, judged against how you received it — a professional-clean receipt cannot be demanded as of right.

Pet damage follows the same line since the December 2025 pet rules: tenants are responsible for pet damage beyond fair wear and tear (with the pet bond as the first pool), but ordinary consequences of permitted pet occupation are not a blank cheque. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

The refund process — and the pressure move to refuse

At the end of the tenancy, both sides complete the bond refund form: agree the split, sign, and Tenancy Services pays out — typically quickly once a properly signed form is in. The pressure move to refuse: signing a form with deductions you dispute "to get something back now". A signed form is an agreement; the disputed portion is far harder to recover afterwards. Where agreement fails, either side applies to the Tenancy Tribunal and a referee decides on the evidence — and you can claim the undisputed portion while the disputed part is decided.

Timing note for tenants: chase the form actively. A landlord sitting on a refund has your money earning nothing; polite persistence in writing, then a Tribunal application, is the sequence. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

The evidence that decides bond disputes

Bond hearings are decided on before-and-after: the entry condition report (signed at the start — if you never got one, that absence itself hurts the landlord's damage claims), dated photos and video from move-in and move-out, receipts for any professional cleaning or repairs actually done, and the correspondence about issues during the tenancy. The tenant who walks the empty property on the last day filming every room has, in ten minutes, built the file that wins the hearing.

Landlords: the same rules serve you — a signed entry report, itemised quotes for genuine damage, and photos date-stamped before any repair are what convert a claim from assertion to award. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

The unlodged bond — and other unlawful acts

Check early: Tenancy Services can confirm whether your bond was lodged. A landlord who took a bond and never lodged it has committed an unlawful act — the Tribunal can order the bond dealt with properly and award exemplary damages on top, and the same unlawful-act machinery covers excessive bonds (over four weeks), unlawful "extra" deposits, and retaliation for pursuing your bond. These claims run even after you have moved out, and even where the landlord has "refunded" informally on their own arithmetic. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

Getting the bond back, step by step

Build the exit fileFinal clean to "reasonably clean", then photos and video of every room, meter readings, keys handed over on record.

Do the refund form properlyAgree what is genuinely owed, dispute what is not, and never sign away disputed amounts under time pressure. The undisputed part can be released while the rest is decided.

Tribunal if agreement failsCheap, quick, evidence-driven. Call 0800 461 100 free, any hour, to test the deductions against the law first — and book a NZ$295 (GST inclusive) consultation on the call if the amounts are serious.

Tenancy Bond — your questions answered

My landlord wants the full bond for carpet and repainting after four years. Fair?

Probably not. Four years of ordinary living produces worn carpet and tired paint — classic fair wear and tear, the landlord's cost. Deductions need damage beyond that, proved against the entry condition. Age matters too: a referee values a four-year-old repaint as a four-year-old repaint, not a new one.

Can the landlord insist on a professional cleaning receipt?

No — the standard is reasonably clean and tidy, not professionally cleaned. A clause demanding professional cleaning regardless of condition is unenforceable; what matters is the state you actually leave it in, evidenced by your photos.

How do I check my bond was actually lodged?

Ask Tenancy Services directly with your tenancy details — you should also have received lodgement confirmation early in the tenancy. If it was never lodged, you hold a strong Tribunal claim: orders about the bond plus exemplary damages for the unlawful act.

We disagree on $600 of a $2,400 bond. Does everything wait?

No — agree and release the undisputed $1,800 now, and put the disputed $600 to the Tribunal. Partial agreement is normal and sensible; total hostage-taking is a pressure tactic the process is designed to defeat.

I moved out months ago and the landlord went silent. Too late?

Not at all. Apply to the Tribunal — the bond is government-held and does not vanish, and silence tends to end when the hearing notice arrives. Bring the tenancy agreement, your exit evidence and the correspondence trail.