Builder deposits: Tasmania
The limit here is 5% if the contract price is $20,000 or more; 10% below that; 20% where more than half the work is performed off-site. What is true everywhere — and why the cap is not the protection — is on the main page.
Tasmania's figures are taken from the Act itself rather than from a guide, and that turned out to matter.
Read from section 41, not from a summary
Section 41 of the Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 sets the deposit at 5% where the contract price is at or above the set amount, 10% below it, and 20% where more than half the value of the work is performed off-site. Section 41(1) puts the set amount at $20,000 unless a regulation prescribes more.
Consumer guidance circulating online describes a $50,000 threshold. Section 41 does not contain one. Where a summary and the Act disagree, the Act governs — and this is a good illustration of why it is worth asking for the section number rather than the brochure.
What a payment after the deposit has to be
Section 42 is the quiet one. Any payment other than the deposit must be directly related to the progress of work at the building site. That rules out a payment timed to a date, to an order being placed, or to the builder's own cash flow. If a claim arrives and you cannot point to the work at the site it corresponds to, the test in the Act has not been met, and that is the question to put back.
Note that the regulator changed on 1 October 2026: Consumer, Building and Occupational Services became Consumer Affairs Tasmania and Building Standards Tasmania, so older pages may carry the previous name.
Tasmania: the numbers
- Contract price at or above the set amount
- 5% maximum deposit
- Contract price below the set amount
- 10% maximum deposit
- More than half the work performed off-site
- 20% maximum deposit
- The set amount
- $20,000, unless a regulation prescribes a higher figure
- Payments after the deposit
- Must be directly related to the progress of work at the building site
Read from Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 (Tas), section 41 on 13 October 2026. We publish the date we read it so you can see how old this is — these limits change, and Consumer Affairs Tasmania is the authority on what applies to your contract.
Questions about Tasmania deposits
What is the maximum deposit in Tasmania?
Section 41 of the Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 sets 5% at or above the set amount, 10% below it, and 20% where more than half the work is performed off-site. The set amount is $20,000 unless a regulation prescribes more.
I have seen a $50,000 threshold quoted. Which is right?
Section 41 does not contain a $50,000 threshold — it puts the set amount at $20,000. Where guidance and the Act disagree, the Act governs, which is a good reason to ask for the section number rather than the brochure.
What has to be true of a payment after the deposit?
Under section 42 it must be directly related to the progress of work at the building site. A payment timed to a date, to an order being placed, or to the builder's cash flow does not meet that test.