The next National government will allow people under 30 to draw down on their KiwiSaver savings to help them get together bond payments for tenancy agreements, says National’s Housing Spokesperson Chris Bishop.

“Getting together up to four weeks rent in advance for a tenancy agreement is not easy for many people, particularly for students and young graduates, who don’t have a lot of cash.

“Our policy will mean that people who have some money saved in KiwiSaver accounts will be able to use that money to pay the bond for a rental agreement. The money will be transferred from their KiwiSaver account to Tenancy Services and returned to the KiwiSaver account when the tenancy ends. As is currently the case, tenants will also be able to transfer their bond to a new tenancy.”

“This is a commonsense change that will make it easier for people to pay for bonds, and free up cash for young people. Young people have told me they’d like to have the option of using their KiwiSaver savings to sort their bond payments, and that this policy will make a difference.

“Using KiwiSaver savings for rent bonds will only be available for people aged under 30, and will only be available for five years’ worth of bond payments. This reflects the fact that we want young people joining KiwiSaver early and staying in for the long haul.”

“The next National government will amend the KiwiSaver Act to implement this change and will put in place any operational changes required between Tenancy Services (run by MBIE) and KiwiSaver providers to make the back-end operation as easy as possible.

“This commonsense policy has been advanced by National’s youth wing, the Young Nationals, and will help make it easier for young people to get into flats while studying and entering the workforce. It sits alongside National's other common sense tenancy law changes to make it easier for renters to get ahead."