Financial and policy information about the residential bond service

Robert Whitaker made this Official Information request to Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

The request was successful.

From: Robert Whitaker

Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,

Please provide the following information regarding the residential bond lodgement service administered by MBIE. I am seeking financial data regarding the service, how interest from the service is distributed and the policy that applies where bonds are unclaimed.

Specifically, I would like you to provide:

1. The balance of bonds held for as many previous years as is practical, as both a national total and broken down by geographic region.

2. The annual interest earned on held bonds by year, again as both a national total and broken down regionally.

3. The amount of interest used to pay for tenancy services, ideally broken down by service (Tenancy Tribunal, Mediation Service, Tenancy Services website and call centre, Compliance and Investigations team and any other relevant business units).

4. Information about how any surplus interest from bonds is distributed.

5. The amount of money from other sources (e.g. Vote Justice) used to pay for tenancy services, again broken down by service.

6. The amount of bonds held that are deemed "unclaimed" (i.e. the tenancy has ended but the bonds have not been claimed by either party) in each year, ideally broken down regionally.

7. Any policy around how unclaimed bond money is managed. How it is determined to be "unclaimed"? How long is it held for? When is it sent to consolidated funds? What efforts are made to notify tenants about unclaimed bonds?

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whitaker

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From: *OIA
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

 

 

Ref: 1718-1016

 

Dear Mr Whitaker

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 15 February 2018 requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

Please provide the following information regarding the residential bond
lodgement service administered by MBIE. I am seeking financial data
regarding the service, how interest from the service is distributed and
the policy that applies where bonds are unclaimed.

 

Specifically, I would like you to provide:

 

1. The balance of bonds held for as many previous years as is practical,
as both a national total and broken down by geographic region.

 

2. The annual interest earned on held bonds by year, again as both a
national total and broken down regionally.

 

3. The amount of interest used to pay for tenancy services, ideally broken
down by service (Tenancy Tribunal, Mediation Service, Tenancy Services
website and call centre, Compliance and Investigations team and any other
relevant business units).

 

4. Information about how any surplus interest from bonds is distributed.

 

5. The amount of money from other sources (e.g. Vote Justice) used to pay
for tenancy services, again broken down by service.

 

6. The amount of bonds held that are deemed "unclaimed" (i.e. the tenancy
has ended but the bonds have not been claimed by either party) in each
year, ideally broken down regionally.

 

7. Any policy around how unclaimed bond money is managed. How it is
determined to be "unclaimed"? How long is it held for? When is it sent to
consolidated funds? What efforts are made to notify tenants about
unclaimed bonds?

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course. If you have any enquiries regarding
your request feel free to contact us via email [MBIE request email] or using
the contact details below.

 

Yours sincerely,

Alan Witcombe

MANAGER, MINISTERIAL SERVICES

Corporate, Governance and Information

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

 

 

[1]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

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References

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1. http://www.govt.nz/

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From: CLM Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment


Attachment image003.png
55K Download

Attachment DOIA 1718 1016 Robert Whitaker Response.pdf
253K Download View as HTML

Attachment DOIA 1718 1036 Robert Whitaker Unclaimed Bonds.pdf
1.2M Download View as HTML


Good afternoon

 

Please find attached a response to your Official Information Act request.

 

Kind regards

 

Ministerial Services

Engagement, Communications and Ministerial Services

Email: [1][email address]

 

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[2]www.mbie.govt.nz

[3]cid:image001.png@01D2A86C.030B1D00

 

[4]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/
4. http://www.govt.nz/

Link to this

Mark Hanna left an annotation ()

It's rather unreasonably for MBIE to have sent you this information in such inaccessible formats, where you can't search for or copy any text, and have to type out URLs instead of clicking on them. Especially given the table they've sent you (or, rather, the image of a table) is 6 pages long.

Section 16(2) of the Official Information Act requires that, unless there's a good reason not to, agencies must make information available in the way preferred by the requester. So you'd be quite entitled to request that they send you this information in a more accessible and useful format.

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From: Robert Whitaker

Dear CLM Ministerial Services,

Can you please supply the data and information within this request in digital formats that allow for copy and pasting (for the documents) such as DOCX or RTF and data compiling and analysis (for the data supplied) such as a CSV or XLSX document.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whitaker

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From: Robert Whitaker

Dear CLM Ministerial Services,

Having reviewed the information supplied I note that there is not a substantive response to this question:

3. The amount of interest used to pay for tenancy services, ideally broken down by service (Tenancy Tribunal, Mediation Service, Tenancy Services website and call centre, Compliance and Investigations team and any other relevant business units).

I accept that it may not be possible to break down expenditure based on which expenditure is met by the interest income but as you have supplied all revenue items under your response to question 5 (totalling to $24,503,527) I request that you supply a similar breakdown of expenditure by business unit, service and/or activity, including the amount allocated to departmental overheads as noted under your answer to question 3.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whitaker

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From: Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

 

 

Ref: 1718-1378

 

Dear Mr Whitaker

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 19 March 2018 requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

·        The amount of interest used to pay for tenancy services, ideally
broken down by service (Tenancy Tribunal, Mediation Service, Tenancy
Services website and call centre, Compliance and Investigations team and
any other relevant business units).

 

·        I accept that it may not be possible to break down expenditure
based on which expenditure is met by the interest income but as you have
supplied all revenue items under your response to question 5 (totalling to
$24,503,527) I request that you supply a similar breakdown of expenditure
by business unit, service and/or activity, including the amount allocated
to departmental overheads as noted under your answer to question 3.

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course. If you have any enquiries regarding
your request feel free to contact us via email [MBIE request email] or using
the contact details below.

 

Yours sincerely,

Alan Witcombe

MANAGER, MINISTERIAL SERVICES

Corporate, Governance and Information

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

 

[1]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.govt.nz/

Link to this

From: CLM Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment


Attachment image003.png
38K Download

Attachment DOIA 1718 1378 Response Letter.pdf
193K Download View as HTML


Good afternoon

 

Please find attached a response to your request.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Ministerial Services

Engagement, Communications and Ministerial Services

Email: [1][email address]

 

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[2]www.mbie.govt.nz

[3]cid:image001.png@01D2A86C.030B1D00

 

[4]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/
4. http://www.govt.nz/

Link to this

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