# Turn Rental Bonds Online into an API

> Read your pending lodgements, online bonds and tenants' refund claims from Rental Bonds Online with one API call each. Or have a workflow check each morning which paid lodgements still need finalising and which Notices of Claim need an answer.

Page: https://fous.com/automate/rental-bonds-online
Updated: 2026-11-12

Works with your own Rental Bonds Online account. Fous is an independent product.

## What you can build on Rental Bonds Online

### Get pending lodgements

Reads the Pending Lodgements on your Rental Bonds Online homepage: each new bond waiting for the tenant to pay, or paid and waiting to be finalised.

- Takes: Payment status (optional)
- Returns: Pending Lodgement number, property address, tenants, bond amount, payment status, payment received date

### Check refund claims awaiting a response

Reads the refund claims tenants lodged against your bonds, with the Notice of Claim and the end of its 14-day notice period.

- Takes: Nothing
- Returns: Rental Bond Number, property address, tenant, amount claimed, claim date, notice period ends

### Get the bonds held for a property

Looks up the online and paper type bonds linked to your Agency Code for one property, with the bond's amount, tenants and status.

- Takes: Property address or Rental Bond Number
- Returns: Rental Bond Number, property address, tenants, bond amount, lodged date, bond type, status

### Submit a bond claim

Submits a claim on an online bond with the deduction amount you give, zero for a full release to the tenant.

- Takes: Rental Bond Number, deduction amount, reason for deduction
- Returns: Rental Bond Number, claim status, deduction amount, amount to tenant, claim date

## Automate Rental Bonds Online with a workflow

A [workflow](/product/workflows) runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

### Paid lodgements still waiting to be finalised

Starts: Every weekday at 8:00

1. Get the pending lodgements in Rental Bonds Online.
2. Keep the ones where the tenant's payment has been received.
3. Email you the list with property address, tenants, bond amount and payment date.

### New tenant refund claims, before the notice period ends

Starts: Every weekday at 9:00

1. Check the refund claims lodged by tenants that wait for your response.
2. Keep the claims that were not there on the last run.
3. Post each one, with the date its notice period ends, to your property management system's webhook.

### Weekly bond check against your trust records

Starts: Every Monday at 7:00

1. For each property you list, get the bonds held in Rental Bonds Online.
2. Keep the bonds whose status or amount changed since the last run.
3. Post them to your trust accounting system's webhook.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

## Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a [method](/product/methods), it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get pending lodgements” would look like.

Example request:

```
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "rbo.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/get_pending_lodgements",
    "input": {
      "payment_status": "paid"
    }
  }'
```

Example response:

```
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "pending_lodgements": [
      {
        "pending_lodgement_number": "PL-0048213",
        "property_address": "4/18 Acme Street, Northwind NSW 2000",
        "tenants": [
          "J. Globex"
        ],
        "bond_amount": 2880,
        "currency": "AUD",
        "payment_status": "Paid",
        "payment_received": "2026-11-10",
        "task": "Finalise the bond"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}
```

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

## Rental Bonds Online’s own options

NSW Fair Trading documents no API or file exchange for agents. Bonds are lodged, finalised, claimed and refunded in Rental Bonds Online, which also sends email and SMS notifications and lists key tasks that need action. Bonds can also be lodged on a paper form, and paper type bonds claimed with a paper form.

| Option | What it covers | What it takes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Email and SMS notifications | Email and SMS notifications about your bonds, such as a tenant's payment, plus notifications and key tasks that need action in your account. | Included with a Rental Bonds Online account. |
| Paper forms | The Rental Bond Lodgement form, and the Claim for Refund of Bond Money form for paper type bonds. | The lodgement form is posted or taken to a Service NSW Centre within 10 working days. The claim form is posted or emailed. Online bonds are claimed online only. |
| Rental Bonds Online by hand | Lodging and finalising bonds, claims, responses to tenants' claims, Manage Users, Manage Properties and reports, one screen at a time. | An agency registration, with a principal user who creates logins for staff. |

Read on November 12, 2026: [Rental Bonds Online for property agents](https://www.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-construction/renting-a-place-to-live/residential-rental-bonds/rental-bonds-online-for-property-agents), [Check a Rental Bonds Online account](https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/check-a-rental-bonds-online-account-landlords-and-agents).

## Signing in to Rental Bonds Online

Rental Bonds Online signs agents in with Your Identification Number and Your Password. NSW Fair Trading emails the agency's principal user to activate their log on, and the principal user creates a login for each staff member. With Fous you sign in once through Rental Bonds Online's own sign-in with your own login: it is sealed with AES-256, and an expired session is signed back in.

## Worth knowing

- **Finalise only after the agreement is signed**: A paid lodgement stays pending until you complete the finalise the bond task, after the tenant signs the tenancy agreement. Only then is the Rental Bond Number allocated, and tenants may ask for a refund of an unfinalised lodgement.
- **14 days to answer a Notice of Claim**: When a tenant claims the bond, you get a Notice of Claim with a 14-day notice period. If you do nothing, the refund is paid to the tenant when the period ends.
- **Seven days to send evidence**: A claim without the tenant's consent is allowed only after the tenancy ends, and within 7 days of making it you must send the tenant the condition report and any quotes, invoices or receipts.
- **Paper type bonds and agent changes**: Bonds lodged on paper appear as paper type bonds when linked to your Agency Code. The code for a change of managing agent expires after 72 hours.

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## Frequently asked questions

### Does Rental Bonds Online have an API?

No. NSW Fair Trading documents no API or file exchange for agents: bonds are lodged, finalised, claimed and refunded in the Rental Bonds Online website, which sends email and SMS notifications. Paper forms remain for lodging a bond and for claiming a paper type bond.

### How do I know which bonds still need finalising?

Rental Bonds Online notifies you when the tenant's payment is received, and a finalise the bond task appears on your homepage. With Fous, you can build a workflow that reads the pending lodgements each morning and emails you the paid ones that are not finalised yet.

### What happens if I miss a tenant's refund claim?

The refund is paid to the tenant after the 14-day notice period ends. A claim on a residential bond is disputed through the Tribunal. To agree a different amount, you and the tenant each submit a matching online enquiry within the notice period.

### Can I claim a bond that was lodged on paper?

Yes. Bonds lodged on paper appear in Rental Bonds Online as paper type bonds when they are linked to your Agency Code, and you can claim them online or with the Claim for Refund of Bond Money form. Online bonds can only be claimed online.

### Is Fous affiliated with NSW Fair Trading?

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own Rental Bonds Online login, and a method reads and does only what that login can.

Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of Rental Bonds Online (NSW Fair Trading). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.