News & Resources

Purchasing your first home is an exciting experience but it can also be daunting. There are a lot of things you need to know when you’re looking to make that first step on the housing ladder. Below is a brief guide for first home buyers looking to enter into the property market.

Forest and Bird and Bay of Plenty Regional Council have agreed to include kauri dieback disease in the Exclusion Programme of the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan.

Kauri dieback disease is a pathogen (Phytophthora agathidicida) that kills native kauri trees by starving them of nutrients and water. It is difficult to manage because it is easily spread and even a small amount of soil on the bottom of someone’s shoes can spread it to new trees.

The Government last week introduced the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Bill (the Bill) to Parliament, which is the result of collaboration between New Zealand’s two major political parties. The collaboration itself signifies the seriousness of Aotearoa’s housing supply issues, with the Bill aimed at introducing mechanisms to mitigate these issues.

The Government has announced a significant expansion of the mandatory employee Covid-19  vaccination requirement, saying that vaccination is “critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19”.

By the beginning of 2022, many health sector workers, and most early childhood, primary, and secondary education sector workers, will be required to have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Are there benefits of converting cross lease titles to fee simple?
Cross leases are a type of title which were favoured in the 1960s by developers as a means to complete a subdivision in a flexible, expedient and less costly manner when compared to fee simple subdivisions.

As we come out of winter and head into the warmer months, you may be looking to put the cover on the spa pool or fill up the swimming pool. However, before you dive in, have you checked that your pool is compliant with the Building (Pools) Amendment Act 2016?

Are you looking to rent out a residential property? Here’s what you need to know about advertising your property and charging rent in light of the recent changes to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Rent increases are limited to once every 12 months and rental increases are not permitted under fixed term tenancies unless the tenancy agreement allows for such rent increases.

Recent changes to the Residential Tenancies Act have now been in effect for several months.

A landlord can no longer end a tenancy without a valid reason.Under the new rules, a landlord can only terminate a tenancy under certain circumstances. Whether you can end the tenancy will also depend on whether the tenancy is fixed term or periodic.

We answer some questions from landlords on ending a tenancy.

The Government is proposing changes to intensive winter grazing regulations in order to address practical challenges raised by stakeholders.  The regulations for intensive winter grazing were set to take effect from 1 May 2022. Under these regulations, farmers can only carry out intensive winter grazing without a resource consent if they comply with a series of default conditions, or they have a certified freshwater farm plan in place.

The Government is proposing changes to natural wetland provisions in the Resource Management and the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020

A significant case in relation to development contributions was recently decided by the High Court, in relation to Hamilton City Council’s (HCC) development contributions policy (DC policy) and its application.

The health, safety and wellbeing of our team, communities and clients is of the highest concern to Holland Beckett Law. We would like to update you on Holland Beckett Law’s approach under COVID-19 Alert Level 2.