“There are some exemptions, and these are cases where you couldn’t make adjustments to make the property meet the standards. For example, if you’re in an apartment building and your kitchen is in the middle of a block and you can’t ventilate the kitchen, you might be exempt.
“If you intend to demolish or substantially rebuild the property as a landlord, you don’t have to comply. If you’ve already applied for a resource consent, you don’t have to comply,” she said.
Gibson said there are some simple ways to check whether your home is up to scratch.
“If you get the edge of a $2 coin, you can shove it into the gap between a window and the architrave or the architrave and the door underneath, or beside it, then that gap needs to be sealed,” she said.
Parliament passed legislation on Wednesday to formally establish Invest New Zealand, which will begin operations on July 1.
Budget 2025 committed $85 million over four years to support the agency’s establishment as an autonomous Crown entity to drive investment into advanced and high-growth industries as well as connect offshore investors with local businesses and research opportunities.
Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howell told The Front Page that Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay seems to be pretty confident in the new venture.
“He’s said it’s about making it easier to do business here, cutting red tape, speeding up that decision making, and targeting investment that delivers long-term benefits for the country.
“A big piece of this is the ‘golden visa’, also known as the ‘active investor plus visa’... Within recent days, the Government has confirmed more than $1 billion has been committed to New Zealand, $800 million from when the Government changed those settings in the hope of getting more people and capital into the country.
“Nicola Willis has pointed to Treasury’s expectation of creating 240,000 new jobs over four years, and she’s said she’d like to exceed that,” Howell said.
More changes coming in on July 1
- Increases to paid parental leave rates – increase to the max weekly rate of paid parental leave up from $754.87 to $788.66 per week.
- Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions should all be in place.
- JobSeeker support clients must reapply for their benefit every 26 weeks (instead of 52 weeks) from July 1, requiring them to engage with MSD more frequently.
- Some customs fees and levies for goods crossing NZ’s border will increase from July 1, with structural changes to the fees regime taking place in April next year.
- New legal requirements to keep records of the movement of raw milk on and off farm, in the ongoing fight against cattle disease, Mycoplasma bovis
- From July 1, it’ll be easier for thousands of NZers to access contraceptives, including IUDs.
- Nutrition replacements to be fully funded for adults with Crohn’s disease.
- Government agencies are directed to use woollen fibre products in the construction and refurbishment of government buildings from July 1.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the changes coming on July 1, and how they might affect you.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
