Retail Leases Act 2003

A retail premises lease is taken to provide that—

money paid by the tenant to the landlord as a security deposit for the performance of the tenant's obligations under the lease must be held by the landlord on behalf of the tenant in an interest-bearing account; and

the landlord must account to the tenant for interest earned on the deposit but the landlord is entitled to keep the interest and deal with it as money paid by the tenant to the landlord to form part of the security deposit; and

the landlord is not entitled unreasonably to refuse to accept a guarantee from an ADI (within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959 of the Commonwealth) in satisfaction of any requirement to provide security in the form of a deposit, bond or third party guarantee for the performance of the tenant's obligations under the lease; and

if the tenant performs all of the tenant's obligations under the lease the landlord must return the security deposit to the tenant within 30 days after the lease ends.

This section does not affect any lawful entitlement of the landlord to appropriate security deposits.