The High Court, in Broadbent v The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development [2017] NZHC 1499 (a test case), has told the Ministry of Social Development that it is not correctly applying the means testing assessment for income when determining someone's eligibility for a residential-care subsidy. Read more
Non-Executive or Passive Directors and Directors' Duties: The Courts Take no Excuses for a "Hands Off" Approach Read more
In New Zealand, there are few prohibitions on who can become a director of a company, and no real qualification requirements. This means that some people become directors without actually understanding what their role requires. This can result in a company not being managed and governed as required by the Companies Act 1993 ("Act"), which in turn can lead to a breach of duty, which can have very serious consequences, up to and including personal liability for company debts or even criminal sanctions in the worst of cases. Read more
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Terms are Essential: Read more
It is in a Landlord's best interest to protect their investment and make sure any exposure to loss from a dodgy Tenant is minimised. All too often we hear of stories involving a Landlord being duped by a Tenant for whatever reason. Perhaps the Tenant becomes unable to pay its rent and rather than seeking out the Landlord and dealing with the situation head on, the Tenant allows its financial problems to continue until it is too late. By this time the Landlord is often owed money in rental and outgoings arrears and in the more extreme circumstances can be left with a vacant property needing to be re-tenanted urgently. Read more
Unfortunately situations where Tenants are unable to pay rent on their leased commercial premises happens all too often. As a commercial property Landlord, knowing your rights and what to do if this situation arises will help minimise your losses. Read more
Buying a new build "House and Land" package has become a popular option for many first home buyers. It can involve a deposit lower than 20% of purchase price (depending on finance), and means you have the time it takes to build to keep saving towards the purchase of your new home. Read more
It is common knowledge that when a married couple in New Zealand gets divorced, they, general speaking, get half each of all the property owned by the parties. In New Zealand this asset division also extends to de facto relationships of more than three years, but what is a de facto relationship? A marriage is easy to identify: there is a wedding, someone cuts the cake, there is usually an adorable child in charge of the rings and most importantly, a legal document; a marriage certificate which says you are married. However, de facto relationships are not so easy to identify. Read more
The truism that charity begins at home might have been given a serious knock back going by the recent UK Supreme Court decision concerning an adult daughter's claim against her mother's estate in IIott v Mitson [2017] UKSC 17. Read more
