Landlords Beware!

Lowe Lippmann Chartered Accountants

Is your tenant bond secure?


It is important for Landlords to know how to best protect their interests, particularly when it comes to the options of cash security bonds or bank guarantees.


Where a tenant provides a cash security bond to secure its obligations under a lease, this creates a "security interest" in favour of the Landlord under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009. Landlords must register their interest on the Personal Property Securities Register (the "PPSR") to properly perfect this security interest. Failing to do so will run the risk of that interest being defeated by a liquidator in the winding up of the tenant, and the cash bond being lost by the landlord.


Without the protection of a registered security interest on the PPSR, a Landlord holds no better position than any other unsecured creditor, and any claim made by the Landlord on a cash bond may amount to a voidable transaction and be claimed by the liquidator in the insolvency of the tenant.


It is therefore important for Landlords to:


  1. Request a bank guarantee as this is generally the preferred form of security under a lease.
  2. However, where a cash bond is held, the Landlord should register their interest, within the prescribed time, on the PPSR to perfect their interest over the bond.

Please do not hesitate to contact your Lowe Lippmann Relationship Partner if you wish to discuss any of these matters further.

Tax Alert - High Court decision and ATO statement on Bendel’s Case

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Practice Update – July 2026

July 5, 2026
Government's tax reform package The Government has recently legislated several of the tax reform measures announced in the 2026 Federal Budget (and in later media releases). These include, among other things: Replacing the CGT discount with cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax on gains accruing from 1 July 2027 (including gains on pre-CGT assets); Increasing the small business turnover threshold for the 50% active asset reduction from $2 million to $10 million; Limiting negative gearing for residential property to new residential dwellings from 1 July 2027 (subject to transitional rules); and Introducing the Working Australians Tax Offset from 1 July 2027, and the $1,000 instant tax deduction for work-related expenses from 1 July 2026. After a round of consultation, the Government has also announced further proposed measures, broadly including (among others): A new targeted CGT discount for investors in innovative start-ups; Barring SMSFs from utilising future limited recourse borrowing arrangements ( LRBAs ) to acquire residential property; and  Exempting income of discretionary testamentary trusts from the minimum tax proposed for trusts. We recently released a Tax Alert considering the legislation restricting SMSFFs using residential property LRBAs – to read click here . For full details of each of the 2026 Federal Budget announcements, please see our Federal Budget Tax Alert – to read click here .

Tax Alert - Legislation restricting SMSFs using residential property LRBAs has now passed Parliament

June 28, 2026
Legislation restricting SMSFs using residential property LRBAs has now passed Parliament The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No 1) Bill 2026 ( the Reform No 1 Bill ) was passed by Parliament on Thursday 25 June 2026. Schedule 5 of the Reform No 1 Bill amends section 67A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to restrict future limited recourse borrowing arrangements ( LRBAs ) on real property to investments in “business real property” (as defined in section 66 of the SIS Act). Residential property of any kind is excluded from the definition of “business real property” in section 66 of the SIS Act. We note this also excludes newly constructed residential property, which is a distinction at odds with recent exemptions being given to new-builds with other Budget Night tax changes relating to negative gearing and restricting the CGT 50% discount. Super funds are not generally allowed to borrow for investments, but there has been a concession allowing a self-managed super fund ( SMSF ) to borrow money to buy single assets like property, if their loans were set up in line with particular requirements, known as LRBAs. This change means an SMSF will not be able to borrow to buy residential property after the start date of these changes.
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