A Notice of claim is a formal notification to advise that the RTA has received a bond refund request. The notice is issued to any party to the bond who needs to be notified about the bond refund request. It includes details of the bond refund claim and provides parties with the opportunity to agree to or dispute the claim during the 14-day notice of claim period.

If a bond refund request is lodged online, all parties have two days to respond to the bond refund fast-track email to agree or disagree with the claim.

If we do not receive a response from a party or if one party disagrees with the claim, a Notice of claim is issued. Parties who agree with the bond refund request will not be sent a Notice of claim.

If a bond refund request is lodged by a paper form, a Notice of claim is sent to any party who has not signed the refund request form.

Responding to a Notice of claim

A Notice of claim can be sent via email or post. If the paper Notice of claim is sent to any party by post, extra time will be added to the notice of claim period to allow for postage time.

 All parties who are sent a notice are given 14 days to respond either:

• online via RTA Web Services, or
• by following the steps outlined on the paper Notice of claim.

If all parties confirm their agreement of the claim during the 14-day notice of claim period, the refund is processed. If the RTA does not receive a response to the Notice of claim, the bond is automatically refunded as per the original request. This will occur 2–3 business days after the Notice of claim expires.

Disputed claim

If one or more parties disputes the claim during the notice of claim period, the bond refund is placed on hold and the matter is referred to our dispute resolution service.

Our dispute resolution service is a free and confidential conciliation service to help property managers/owners and tenants/residents resolve their issues quickly and without the need for legal action.

How you receive a Notice of claim 

The Notice of claim is sent via email or post:

• Consent given to receive RTA notices by email – The Notice of claim is sent via an email that includes a personalised link for responding to the Notice of claim quickly and easily using RTA Web Services. If a party cannot respond using RTA Web Services, the email includes a PDF attachment of the Notice of claim to complete and return by email or post.
• Consent not given to receive RTA notices by email – The Notice of claim is posted to the street address that the RTA has on record. It can be emailed or posted back to us.

Consent to receive the Notice of claim via email is given either when you submit an online form and accept the RTA Web Services terms and conditions, or when you send paper forms to the RTA and tick the box to agree to receive RTA notices by email.

Unlike the bond refund fast track email, we need your consent to send the Notice of claim via email as it is a legislative document. If we do not have your consent to receive RTA notices by email, the Notice of claim will be posted to you. 

To ensure the RTA has your consent to receive notices by email, you should update your details.

If you require further support, you can call our Contact Centre on 1300 366 311, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (excluding public holidays).