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
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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From: CLM Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
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DOIA 1718 1016 Robert Whitaker Response.pdf
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DOIA 1718 1036 Robert Whitaker Unclaimed Bonds.pdf
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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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.
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References
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/
4. http://www.govt.nz/
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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
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
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. http://www.govt.nz/
hide quoted sections
From: CLM Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/
4. http://www.govt.nz/
hide quoted sections
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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.
Link to this