November 2022 Recent changes to the Fair Trading Act 1986 will affect most New Zealand businesses. Now is the time for businesses to familiarise themselves with the new rules to ensure their contracts and processes are compliant. Unfair contract terms The ban on unfair contract terms apply to standard form business-to-business contracts where the parties… Read More.
June 2022 Last year, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) imposed new requirements for disclosures and the preparing of financial statements by trusts. This was done largely to prevent trusts from being used to avoid the new 39% tax rate. Now, for the recent income year (and subsequent years), trustees will need to make disclosures to… Read More.
June 2022 The loopholes in the Construction Contracts Act’s (Act) retentions regime are about to tighten. Contractors are set to face an increased administrative burden when managing retentions. There will also be significant consequences if the Act is not complied with. This article outlines the changes that are currently being considered by Parliament. A retention… Read More.
June 2022 Nuts & Bolts The agreement An ‘off the plans’ agreement will be for a specific house or apartment in a development. An agreement can include conditions such as the purchaser arranging suitable finance and doing due diligence. If someone is considering purchasing a property ‘off the plans’ they should get a lawyer to… Read More.
June 2022 New Zealand’s trust law had the most significant development in over 60 years when the Trusts Act 2019 (the Act) came into force early last year. The Act serves to clarify and improve the accessibility of trust law. This includes setting out how a trustee who loses the capacity to act is removed… Read More.
June 2022 The recently released criteria for employer accreditation for work visas will rule out a number of businesses for accreditation, with others potentially no longer wanting to try applying – businesses who could be desperate for specialist workers from overseas. The criteria are part of a package of instructions from Immigration New Zealand on… Read More.
March 2022 The Incorporated Societies Bill has progressed further through Parliament after completing the select committee process. The Incorporated Societies Bill will replace the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 which is over one hundred years old. This Bill will provide a much-needed update to New Zealand’s incorporated societies laws and bring some significant changes for how… Read More.
March 2022 The Employment Relations Authority’s decision ordering Tova O’Brien to comply with her restraint of trade was a high-profile rebuttal of the public perception that a restraint of trade is ‘not worth the paper it’s written on’. Restraints of trade – which are clauses that prevent an employee from working for their former employer’s… Read More.