Complaint laid over Christchurch Council rents

A complaint over a 24 per cent increase in Christchurch City Council housing rents has been laid with the Ombudsman.

The Coalition for Fair Rents said the increase in rents was made after a flawed and inadequate process .

Coalition Spokesperson Sharon Torstonson said it had exhausted all other options to get the council to correct the shortcomings in the process.

"We and many others have worked extensively to put our concerns to council and suggest how they could be addressed, but to no avail. It feels like council just doesn 't want to know."

Ms Torstonson said the process had failed to consider the views of tenants and others with an interest i n th e rent increases.

However Christchurch City Council chief executive Tony Marryatt said the council's legal team was confident that the correct processes had been followed.

At a council meeting on March 27 a vote to refer discussion on rental increase to the Housing Working Party for further consideration was lost, which Mr Marryatt said indicated councillors believed they had had sufficient time and information to consider the issue.

The council would cooperate fully with the Ombudsman and would supply any information that he required, Mr Marryatt said.

The office of the Ombudsman said they were unable to make any comment at this stage about whether an investigation into the increase would follow the complaint.

- NZPA