16419 (2026). Tamatha Paul to the Associate Minister of Housing

16419 (2026). Tamatha Paul to the Associate Minister of Housing: How much funding, if any, was allocated towards the work completed to modernise Tenancy Bond Services and improve efficiency, and did this include increased efficiency of bond refunds?

Hon Tama Potaka: MBIE received funding of $37.98 million through Budget 2021 for the design, build, deployment, and ongoing maintenance and support of a new bond system. Two digital channels have been deployed for landlords, from December 2024 via a business-to-business (B2B) software connection for users of Property Management Software (PMS) or through Bond Hub which is a web-based offering available since 1 December 2025. On 1 December 2025, significant updates were successfully released, which increased automation and self-service capability for users including the introduction of pet bonds, and the ability to request bond refunds through self-service for PMS users. A further release is due later in 2026 which will enable automated, self-service bond refunds through Bond Hub. All automated transactions are delivering benefits for customers due to faster completion and visibility of transactions, including for customers using the automated, self-service bond refund functionality available through PMS.