Renting, sharing and moving — explained
Practical guides to bonds, leases, flatmates and the parts of renting nobody explains until it goes wrong.
Rental bonds in South Australia: the $800 line that decides whether you pay four weeks or six
South Australia is the only state where crossing a rent threshold makes your bond bigger rather than removing the cap. At $800 a week or less it is four weeks’ rent; above that, six.
Rental bonds in WA: four weeks, a $350 pet bond, and why bond replacement products are illegal here
Asking for more than four weeks’ bond in Western Australia is a criminal offence, not a technicality. WA also publishes the clearest share-house lodgement rules in the country — and has banned the "bond alternative" products advertised elsewhere.
Rental bonds in Queensland: four weeks, no exceptions, and pet bonds count too
Queensland has the simplest bond rule in the country — four weeks’ rent, whatever the rent is — and one detail that surprises people: a pet bond is not extra. It comes out of the same four weeks.
Rental bonds in Victoria: one month, the $900 cliff, and the rooming house trap
Victoria caps bonds at one month’s rent — but the cap vanishes entirely above $900 a week, and if four or more people can occupy rooms in your house it may legally be a rooming house with completely different bond rules.
Rental bonds in NSW: the numbers, and whether yours is protected at all
Four weeks’ rent, held by NSW Fair Trading, and no pet bond — that part is simple. The part that catches people out in a share house is that boarders and lodgers are not covered by the Act, so their bond has no statutory protection whatsoever.
Rental bonds in Australia: what you pay, and how to get it back
A bond is usually four weeks’ rent, it is not your landlord’s money, and most of the disputes over getting it back are decided by photos you took on day one. Here is how bonds actually work in each state.
Rental scams in Australia: 9 red flags, and the one rule that beats all of them
Rental scams work by creating urgency around a place you can’t inspect. If you never send money for a property you haven’t stood inside, almost none of them can touch you.
How to find a flatmate you’ll actually get along with
Most sharehouses don’t fall apart over rent. They fall apart over dishes, guests and noise at 11pm on a Tuesday. Here’s how to work out compatibility before you sign anything.
Ready to find your place?
Rooms, flatmates and team-ups across Australia.