How to Guarantee Your Bond Return in Melbourne (2026 Checklist)

Getting your bond back in full is not luck — it is a process. In Victoria your bond is lodged with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA), and it is only released when both you and the rental provider agree, or when VCAT decides. The single biggest reason renters lose part of their bond is cleaning: a property manager walks through, compares the place against the entry condition report, and marks anything that has slipped.

After 250,000+ cleans across Melbourne — a large share of them end-of-lease turnarounds for real estate agencies — we know exactly what gets flagged. Here is the checklist we work to, room by room, so you can hand back the keys with confidence.

Start with the condition report, not the vacuum

Before you clean a single skirting board, dig out your entry condition report. Under the Residential Tenancies Act you are only required to return the property in the same condition it was in when you moved in, allowing for fair wear and tear. That distinction matters:

• Fair wear and tear (not your problem): faded paint from sunlight, worn carpet in high-traffic hallways, minor scuffs that come with normal living.
• Damage or neglect (your problem): mould from unreported leaks, oven grease baked on over months, picture hooks left in walls, a lawn left to die.

Photograph everything at the start of the clean and again at the end, with timestamps. If there is ever a dispute at VCAT, dated photos are the evidence that wins.

Kitchen — where most bonds are lost

The kitchen is the number one flashpoint. Property managers open the oven first because they know it is the hardest job to fake.

1. Oven, griller and racks — degreased inside and out, including the door glass. Remove racks and soak them.
2. Rangehood — filters degreased, exterior wiped, the light cover cleaned.
3. Cooktop — burnt-on rings and gas trivets scrubbed back to original.
4. Cupboards and drawers — emptied, wiped inside and out, crumbs and liners removed.
5. Splashback and benchtops — no grease film, grout free of stains.
6. Sink and taps — descaled, no limescale, drain clear.

Bathrooms and laundry

Melbourne’s humidity and older housing stock mean bathrooms are a mould magnet. Agents look closely at:

• Grout and silicone in the shower recess — no black spotting or pink film.
• Exhaust fans free of dust build-up.
• Mirror, glass screen and tiles streak-free.
• Toilet cleaned inside, behind and at the base.
• Laundry trough, taps and behind the washing machine connection point.

If mould has taken hold behind silicone, it may need proper remediation rather than a wipe-down — a surface clean that reappears in a fortnight will still fail an inspection.

Living areas, bedrooms and walls

• Walls — remove all hooks, plugs and blu-tack marks; spot-clean scuffs (but do not repaint without permission, as mismatched paint reads as damage).
• Carpets — professionally steam cleaned if your lease requires it. Many Melbourne leases include a professional carpet-cleaning clause; keep the receipt, because agents ask for it.
• Windows — cleaned inside and out where accessible, including tracks and sills.
• Skirting boards, architraves and light switches — dusted and wiped.
• Blinds and curtains — dusted; curtains washed if noted on the entry report.

Don’t forget the outdoors

For houses and townhouses, the exterior is part of the deal:

• Lawns mowed, garden beds weeded, edges trimmed.
• Rubbish and green waste removed — do not leave it for the next tenant or in overflowing bins.
• Garage, carport and any storage cleared and swept.
• Cobwebs removed from eaves and entryways.

The final 24 hours

Work top to bottom and back to front so you are not walking over freshly cleaned floors. Turn off the property, do a final photo walk-through, and check every light globe works — a dead globe is a genuine (if small) deduction. Return every key, remote and swipe fob; a missing garage remote can cost more than you think.

If the scale of the job is daunting — you are moving house and trying to hit an agency-grade standard in a weekend — a professional end-of-lease clean with a bond-back guarantee takes the risk off your plate. If the agent flags something, a reputable cleaner returns to fix it free within the guarantee window.

The bottom line

Your bond is your money. In Victoria the law is on your side as long as you return the property clean and undamaged, fair wear and tear aside. Work from your condition report, document everything, and give the kitchen and bathrooms the time they deserve. Do that, and the RTBA release is a formality — not a fight.