Average bond increases

Press, 5 August 1988, Page 5

Average bond increases

The average bond demanded by Christchurch private landlords has increased more than 200 per cent since last year, says the Housing Corporation.

The corporation’s Tenancy Bond Division said that the average bond charge for city houses and flats had gone up from $lOO to about $330 since September. The division’s manager, Mr Philip Pigou, said that increased rents earlier this year were the cause of the bond rise. Landlords were still taking the normal two weeks rent as a bond but the rents had risen, increasing the bond requirement.

Landlords were also seeing the need for a satisfactory bond as

security because of the increasing number of rent arrears and tenancy abandonments in Christchurch. In September last year the division said the average bond for renting a house or flat in Christchurch was $lO5. At the time Mr Pigou said landlords were “doing themselves in the eye” because they were not charging enough. Their security was being eroded and Christchurch properties were revealed as having the lowest bond payment of any in New Zealand. The average bond in New Zealand was $135. Christchurch had the lowest at $lO5 and Auckland and Henderson (west of Auckland) had the highest, at $194 and $244 respectively.