- National interest assessments likely to require full assessment timeframe
- Overseas investment customer satisfaction survey
- Ngā Hui Whakamārama
- Decision summaries for March 2025
Kia ora koutou
I hope you all enjoyed either a break or a couple of short weeks over Easter and ANZAC Day.
In this month’s Pānui we take a look at timeframes for consent applications subject to a national interest test. These applications are typically higher-risk and more complex and will usually require more time to assess. It’s important to keep this in mind when submitting an application that will be subject to a national interest test, and remember to get in touch with us early so we can work through likely timeframes.
Next week we will launch a short survey to help us learn more about the overseas investment customer experience.
We will get in touch with people who contacted us with a query in January and February to hear how those interactions went and what improvements could be made. If you receive an email from us seeking your feedback, we would appreciate your participation.
Read on for more information, and for March’s decision summaries.
Ngā mihi
Rebecca McAtamney
Head of Regulatory Practice and Delivery
Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand
National interest assessments likely to require full assessment timeframe
Following our application timeframe update in our March Pānui, the overseas investment team remains well on track to meet the assessment timeframes and expectations set out in the June 2024 Ministerial Directive Letter (MDL).
The MDL sets an expectation that 80% of consent applications will be decided within half of their statutory timeframe. As at the end of March we have achieved this for 98% of consent decisions since July 2024 (100% of One Home To Live In decisions and 90% of other consent decisions). Our work ensuring quick decisions on national security and public order (NSPO) notifications continues, with every NSPO notification received since July 2021 being decided within the statutory 15 working day timeframe.
It’s important for investors to be aware that consent applications subject to a national interest test will generally sit within the 20% of applications requiring up to the full statutory timeframe for assessment. This reflects the approach set out in the MDL for higher-risk applications, which include investments by foreign governments or investments into New Zealand’s strategically important businesses.
The overseas investment team are focused on efficient decision-making for all applications to support investment, including those that include a national interest assessment. However, given national interest applications are higher-risk, and as we have a large volume of these currently under assessment, you should prepare for your decision to take the full national interest timeframe for these applications.
We can see this with processing times for significant business asset applications, with 86% of SBA decisions involving a national interest assessment requiring the full statutory timeframe since July last year.
Remember to get in touch with us as early as possible if you have a national interest decision needing a quick decision, so we can work through the potential timings with you.
Overseas investment customer satisfaction survey
On Monday 5 May we are launching a survey to help us understand how satisfied overseas investment customers are after interacting with us, and where we can make changes to improve the experience. The survey will run for two weeks.
If you contacted the overseas investment team with a query in January or February this year, you will receive an email from us between on 5 May with a link to the survey. Survey links will be sent to people who contacted us by email and through the online contact form on our website.
The survey will take around two minutes to complete and will provide us with important information about what we are doing well, and where and how we can improve.
This is the first overseas investment customer satisfaction survey we have run, and we hope to make them a regular exercise as we seek to provide the best support and service that we can. We appreciate your support and feedback.
Ngā Hui Whakamārama
Our next Ngā Hui Whakamārama session will be held at 10:30am – midday, Wednesday 28 May, and invites will be sent out soon.
These sessions are designed specifically for lawyers who regularly advise overseas investors. You’ll receive an invitation for May’s seminar if you’ve attended a previous one. If you haven’t received earlier invitations, please email us at oio@linz.govt.nz to sign up.
We are always keen to hear if there are any topics of interest you would like us to discuss. You can email us at oio@linz.govt.nz with any suggestions you have for our upcoming sessions.
Decision summaries for March 2025
Decision summaries are published the month after a decision is made. The latest decision summaries are listed here, including standing consent notifications.
Benefit to New Zealand
202400547 - Concord Green Power Limited
202400860 - Ingka Investments Forest Assets NZ Limited and Ingka Investments Management NZ Limited
202400827 - MEGA BidCo
202400864 - Kauri Forestry LP
202500068 - JD Droxford Limited
Sensitive Business Assets only
202400854 - Tiny Ltd
202400799 - New Zealand Nutrifoods Investment Group Limited
202500061 - BlackRock Saturn Subco, LLC
202400861 - Crown HoldCo Limited
202400846 - Westmann Bidco Pty Limited
Exemption – Large Apartment Development
202500075 - Fletchers Residential Limited
Notification under a Standing Consent – Residential land development
201810205-5 - Universal Homes
Getting in touch
As always, we recommend contacting us before applying to reduce delays in the assessment and decision process.
For media enquiries please contact the Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand Communications team.