Pānui - March 2026

In this edition:

Kia ora koutou 

Welcome to Pānui for March 2026.

At the end of February, we farewelled Rebecca McAtamney as she took up a new role with another public agency.

I am pleased to take over as Acting Head of Regulatory Practice and Delivery leading LINZ's regulatory functions. I am especially pleased to be returning to the overseas investment regime following previous stints as Applications Manager and leading the LINZ policy team with responsibility for overseas investment.

I have enjoyed joining the team as the important changes to the Overseas Investment Act came into effect. These law changes have required us to change our systems and processes to deliver decisions for investors more quickly. The team is up for the challenge, and we are seeing ongoing and sustained improvements in processing timeframes. We publish information on our performance, as well as a range of information on the consents being issued, on our website at the following link.

Overseas investment information dashboards

As part of preparing for the law changes, senior members of the Overseas Investment team have travelled around the country and engaged extensively with professional advisors including lawyers, conveyancers, real estate agents and immigration advisors.

Thank you to everyone who came to meet with us or attended a webinar. Thank you also to the law firms and real estate agencies who hosted meetings, and to the New Zealand Law Society Property Law Section, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand and New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment for hosting webinars.

Ngā mihi 

Dan White
Head of Regulatory Practice and Delivery
Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand

Law changes in effect

Please visit the law reforms page of the LINZ website to access resources and information on the changes to the Overseas Investment Act.

Reform of the Overseas Investment Act

LINZ has implemented three new consent pathways:

• a primary consent pathway for significant business assets and sensitive land
• a production forestry pathway for sensitive land used for forestry
• a $5million plus house pathway for qualifying investor visa holders.

We will begin publishing approvals under the new pathways in next month's edition of Pānui.

Primary consent and production forestry

We have updated our website with information and guidance on the new pathways.

Application forms and information sheets

The new application form, primary consent standard conditions, production forestry standard and special conditions, and production forestry investment plan should now be used for all applications.

Investor class visa holders

Applications for investor class visa holders to buy or build a house worth more than $5 million can now be accepted.

To qualify an investor must hold one of three types of visa:

• Active Investor Plus
• Investor 1
• Investor 2

The property purchase price must be more than $5 million, excluding the value of chattels, and there are restrictions on the type of land that can be bought.

Investors must apply for consent before they complete the purchase, so any offer should be subject to gaining approval under the Overseas Investment Act.

A new application webform is available for use.

Application form - $5 million plus house

Residential Land Statement

As part of implementing the law changes the Residential Land Statement has been updated.

This statement must be completed by everyone buying residential land in New Zealand.

The updated statement and guidance for conveyancers and lawyers are available at the links below.

Residential Land Statement

Guidance for conveyancers and lawyers

The previous version of the Residential Land Statement can still be used for the next six months, but we encourage lawyers and conveyancers to start using the updated statement.

Invoicing and fees

Updated fees for applications under the new rules are also now in effect.

Investors can now request an invoice for the full application fee before submitting an application.

How to pay overseas investment fees and penalties

Applicants can choose either to:

• request and pay the full application fee invoice before submitting their application, or
• continue to receive an invoice for the assessment and monitoring portion of their fee after the application has been submitted.

Please note that lodgement fees - or, for applications under the primary consent pathway, the full application fee - must be paid before an application is considered received.

Processing timeframes are likely to be paused until the full application fee has been received.

Decision summaries

Benefit to New Zealand

• 202500787 - Beyond NZ HotelCo Pte. Ltd.
• 202500272 - Withheld under section 9(2)(b)(ii).
• 202500770 - Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates LP

Residential land development

• 202500808 - Lincoln Grange Limited

Significant business assets only

• 202500779 - PartsTrader Holdings Limited
• 202600024 - Astra Energy Group Limited
• 202500786 - Centuria Funds Management (NZ) Limited
• 202500746 - QSEF-Management Pty Limited on behalf of the Quadrant Strategic Equity Fund
• 202500847 - DFMS US BidCo, Inc. DFMS NZ BidCo and DFMS TopCo LP

Special forestry

• 202500829 - Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP
• 202500828 - Taieri Land Limited

Exemption - Discretionary

• 202500759 - Pantheon Infrared Digital Core Plus JV Holdco Limited

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