Handling Bonds with Bond Lodgements

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Summary of Bond Transactions Process
• Entering a Bond Amount Charged to the Tenant (Detail)
• How to record a Bond paid in full if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority
• How to record a Bond paid in instalments if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority
• How to record a Bond decrease and refund to a Tenant if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority
• How to record a Bond increase and refund to a Tenant if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority
• For further assistance with Bond Lodgements in Chintaro

Overview

Most Organisations will charge their Tenancies a Bond amount, and this amount will either be paid off in full by the Tenant or be paid off over time as a Bond Loan. Some Australian states mandate that the housing provider must record the date and amount the Bond payments from the Tenant(s) were lodged the Bond Authority (whether paid in full or paid off over time in partial payments) in a separate ledger. 

This is an additional step required by some Organisations and generally only applies to Queensland Chintaro users, but this may apply in your Organisation . 

If you are not required to record the Bond Payments from a Tenant to the Bond Authority, click here to see the solution for Handling Bonds without Bond Lodgements.

This solution explains the different processes for Organisations regarding Bond Transactions on the Tenancy Screen when the bond transactions are paid by the tenant to the organisation then lodged by the organisation to the Bond Authority. 

For information about Bond and Bond Lodgement transaction type configuration please see: Transaction Type Configuration

Summary of Bond Transactions Process

The Bond Transactions process can be complex. This overview will give you a very simplified version of steps and the extra detail is below.

The Bond Transactions section contains 2 ledgers:

1.) The ledger at the top records the Bond Charge to the tenant and Bond Payments made by the tenant. It is also used to record the refund amounts when the tenant vacates the property.

2.) The ledger below records the payment details of the amount that was transferred to the Bond Authority as a Bond Lodgement, by who and when. 

Example:

1. A Tenant is charged their initial Bond Amount of $300, and a transaction is entered into the Bond Transactions Ledger:

2. The tenant pays the bond and when the full amount of $300 is paid, the balance is $0.00:

3. The payment(s) then have to be lodged with the Bond Authority and added to the Bond Lodgements section below.

4. When the tenant vacates, the bond will be either fully withheld, fully transferred back to them or partially withheld and partially transferred. The Bond Lodgements section is updated to reflect the return of the bond (details in the below sections).

If the bond is entirely withheld or entirely transferred back to the tenant, the applicable transaction is entered in, for example:

5. Finally, a clearing transaction is entered to account for the initial bond charge and return the balance to $0.00:

6. If the bond covers arrears/damages, further transactions to cover these amounts are entered into the Tenancy Transactions screen.

Entering a Bond Amount Charged to the Tenant (Detail)

In the Tenancy screen, there is a button for Bond Transactions and when clicking this button, the following screen appears:

Chintaro's Bond Transactions screen is divided into 4 sections. The sections are Tenant's Bond Balances, Bond Details, Bond Transactions and Bond Lodgements. 

When a Tenant is charged a Bond using bond transactions, you do not use the Bond Amount field in the Bond Details section of the screen. You will use a Bond Transaction type for your bond charges. Click Enter Bond Transactions in the Bond Transactions section of the screen: 

When this is entered, the amount of the Bond will show in the Strict Bond Amount field in the Tenant's Bond Balance section of the screen. The amount the Tenant is owing for the Bond will show in red in the Bond Balance field:

How to record a Bond paid in full if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority

If a Tenant pays their bond in full to you, and you are in Queensland or another state that requires you to record the date you transferred the Tenant's bond to the Bond Authority, you will follow these steps to ensure the transactions are recorded correctly.

If you have bonds lodged directly to the Bond Authority and the tenant does not make payments to your organisation for the initial bond, see also this solution: Direct Bond Lodgements

When a Tenant makes a payment, the amount they paid will be recorded as a Bond Transaction (in the top ledger):

In this example, the Tenant paid their full Bond Amount of $1000 as a Bond Payment. The Strict Bond Amount still shows the total of the bond charge. The Bond Balance is now $0.00 as the tenant has paid off their bond. 

Once this transaction has been received from the Tenant, you will need to transfer it to the Bond Authority. To record this in Chintaro, you will go to the Bond Lodgements section of the screen and click the Enter Bond Lodgement button to enter the amount you lodged as a credit bond lodgement transaction (including a Lodgement Type, Date, Amount and Comments):

When you add the transaction, the amount you have lodged will show in the Lodged By Us field and the Total Lodged field in the Tenant's Bond Balance section and the Bond Lodgement transaction will show in the Bond Lodgments sections:

Once you have received the confirmation back from the Bond Authority, the Bond Reference can be entered into the Bond Reference or Registration field in the Bond Details section.

The Bond is now correctly recorded in Chintaro.

How to record a Bond paid in instalments if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority

If a Tenant pays their bond in partial payments to you, and you are in Queensland or another state that requires you to record the date you transferred the Tenant's bond to the Bond Authority, you will follow these steps to ensure the transactions are recorded correctly.

When a Tenant makes a partial payment, the amount they paid will be recorded as a Bond Transaction (in the top ledger):

In this example, the Tenant has made a partial payment of $100 towards their full Bond Amount of $1000, and the Strict Bond Amount still shows the full bond charge, the Bond Balance shows the amount the Tenant owes for their Bond -  $900.

Once this transaction has been received from the Tenant, you will need to transfer it to the Bond Authority. To record this in Chintaro, you will go to the Bond Lodgements section of the screen and click the Enter Bond Lodgement button to enter the amount you lodged as a credit bond lodgement transaction (including a Lodgement Type, Date, Amount and Comments):

When you add the transaction, the amount you have lodged will show in the Bond Lodgements Ledger:

The Tenant's Bond Balance will reflect the amount Lodged by us and the Total Lodged. The amount To Be Lodged will show the amount outstanding. The Bond Balance shows the amount still owed by the tenant. 

Once you have received the confirmation back from the Bond Authority that they have received the payment, the Bond Reference number they provide you can be entered into the Bond Reference in the Bond Details section:

You will continue to receive Bond Payments for the Tenant, and when these are received in the Bond Transactions ledger (at the top), they can be transferred across to the Bond Authority. 

Over time, the Tenant will have paid off their Bond in full. The Bond Balance will be $0.00. 

When you have transferred the entire amount of the Bond to the Bond Authority, The To Be Lodged amount will be $0.00

The details of the transactions are seen in the Bond Transaction ledger and the Bond Lodgements ledger.

How to record a Bond decrease and refund to a Tenant if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority

When a Bond is decreased, you will need to record the payments you have received back from the Bond Authority and refunded to your Tenant.

Initially, you will need to change the Strict Bond Amount by entering a Bond Transaction to reflect the rent review decrease. In this example, a rent review has found that the Bond should be decreased to $950:

The total at the top of the screen now shows that the Tenant is in credit for their Bond, and you will then need to contact the Bond Authority so you can request the amount to be refunded to the Tenant.

When you receive this amount from the Bond Authority, you can record a debit lodgement transaction in the Bond Lodgements ledger for the refunded amount (in this case $50.00). Click Enter Bond Lodgement and add a debit transaction:

The Tenant's Bond Balance will show that the Tenant has a credit bond balance and the correct amount of Bond is lodged with the authority.

You will need to provide this refund to your Tenant. To record this, enter a debit 'Bond Refund' transaction in the Bond Transactions ledger by clicking the 'Enter Bond Transaction' button and entering the transaction as a Bond refund, with the date, amount refunding and any comments:

The Tenant's Bond Balance will now show the current Strict Bond Amount is lodged correctly and the details of the Bond Transactions and Bond Lodgements will show in the ledgers:

How to record a Bond increase and refund to a Tenant if you are required to record Bond Lodgements to the Bond Authority

When a Bond is increased, you will need to record the additional payments you have received from the Tenant and the lodgement of this/these payment/s to the Bond Authority.

Initially, you will need to change the Strict Bond Amount by entering a Bond Transaction to reflect the rent review increase. In this example, a rent review has found that the Bond should be increased to $1100

The total at the top of the screen now shows that the Tenant is in debit for their Bond (in this example, they owe an additional $100) and you will need to contact the Tenant so that you can request the additional amount required for their Bond.

When the Tenant pays you the additional money required for their Bond, you can click 'Enter Bond Transaction' and enter the amount they have paid for their Bond.

Once they have paid this amount off, the Tenant's Bond Balance will show the Bond Balance as $0.00 and the amount To Be Lodged with the authority. 

You can then transfer the payment(s) to the Bond Authority, and click Enter Bond Lodgement to record this:

The Tenant's Bond Balance will now show the current Strict Bond Amount is lodged correctly and the details of the Bond Transactions and Bond Lodgements will show in the ledgers:

For further assistance with Bond Lodgements in Chintaro

Please contact support@chintaro.com.au for further information about recording Bonds in Chintaro.