16D   Deposit of existing security bonds with Director-General

(1)  This section applies in either of the following circumstances:

(a)  where, before the commencement of this section, a lessor under a lease or proposed lease received a deposit or payment of money that, if it had been received after that commencement, would have been a security bond,

(b)  where:

(i)  a lessor under a lease or proposed lease, to which this Act does not apply, received a deposit or payment of money as a security bond, and

(ii)  this Act afterwards becomes applicable to the lease because of the operation of section 6A or for any other cause.

For the purposes of this section, the relevant day is the date of commencement of this section (in circumstances to which paragraph (a) applies) or the day when this Act becomes applicable to the lease (in circumstances to which paragraph (b) applies).

(2)  The lessor, or the lessor’s agent, must deposit with the Director-General within 3 months after the relevant day an amount of money equivalent to the current balance of the amount deposited or paid.

(3)  The current balance is the amount of money deposited or paid, together with any interest or similar payments, and less:

(a)  any amount that:

(i)  has been deducted by way of fees or charges by an authorised deposit-taking institution, or

(ii)  has been refunded or become refundable, or

(iii)  has become the property of the lessor, or

(iv)  has become subject to prescribed proceedings, or

(v)  is payable to the lessee by way of interest earned,

      before or during the period referred to in subsection (2), or

(b)  any amount of a kind prescribed by the regulations.

(4)  The Director-General may, without affecting the obligation imposed on a lessor under subsection (2), refuse to accept any amount tendered for deposit under that subsection that is not accompanied by a notification in or to the effect of the approved form duly completed.

(5)  If a security bond that is (pursuant to section 82) exempt from the operation of subsection (2), subsequently ceases to be exempt, section 16C applies to the bond as if it had been received when it ceased to be exempt, and this section ceases to apply to the bond.

(6)  The Minister, by instrument in writing, may, generally or in any particular case or class of cases, extend the period prescribed by subsection (2).

(7)  Subsection (2) has effect despite the terms of a lease, any rule of law or the provisions of any other Act.