Pro Legal

Protecting Your Assets – Why Legal Advice Matters for ‘Pre-Nup’ Agreements

A recent decision in the Napier High Court, WL v AJ [2023] NZHC 703, is a timely reminder that seeking independent legal advice is crucial for a pre-nuptial agreement (pre- nup) to be valid and enforceable. The decision also demonstrates the consequences of not getting the right advice. Understanding the Case Let’s take a look at the case involving Mr...

Cyclone Gabrielle & tenancies – know your rights

Article by Edward Bostock, Director and Kelly Henderson, Legal Executive One of the most significant impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle has been the damage and destruction to commercial and residential properties in Hawke’s Bay. Building officers are completing rapid building assessments on properties effected by the Cyclone. To date, there are 100 red stickered properties (meaning the property has been seriously...

Honey, I Shrunk the Equity!

Reflecting on the past year and considering what’s to come in 2023. How do we summarise the New Zealand property market in 2022? “Contrast” comes to mind. “Against the grain” might be another appropriate phrase. It was an exceptionally intriguing year for New Zealand’s property market. Professionals at all levels of the sale and purchase of property recognised a significant...

Korero in the Workplace: The Importance of Mental Wellbeing as a Business Asset

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 26 September to 2 October 2022. In 2021, the theme of Awareness Week was “take time to kōrero”, which encouraged connection through conversation, and promoted openness about our mental wellbeing. For employers and employees, it’s important to understand that mental health plays a significant role in the workplace. For businesses, the mental wellbeing of...

Small Trade Contracts: What you need to know moving forward

The Fair Trading Amendment Act 2021 comes into force in August 2022 and this will place new obligations on businesses while providing new protections for consumers and small businesses. The key change is that “standard form small trade contracts” will now be subject to the unfair contract principle. To understand the significance of this change we first need to identify...

Understand legislation changes to land before acting

A hot topic for many years has been the house market. Specifically, how the Government has attempted to create affordable housing for those priced out of the market. The most recent of these is the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 and the proposed repeal and replacement of the Resource Management Act. Hastings and Napier District Councils will be...

Redesigning the way we work

COVID-19 has, in many respects, fast-forwarded changes that had been occurring slowly for years — it’s a big impact change that provided a platform to create a true shift in the way many businesses operate. We have seen the signposting for this change cycle of increased business flexibility via the rapid escalation and uptake of cloud based products such as Xero...

Pro Legal

Who’s responsible/ The uncertainty of business liability when a cyber attack strikes

As technology continues to dominate everyday activity, the risk of cyber-attacks occurring also increases. Businesses, irrespective of their size, are becoming more vulnerable to the menace of cyber-attacks. Ransomware, malware, and broad sweeping data breaches are only a handful of the growing categories of cyber-attacks prevalent in today’s market. As the threat rises, questions of business liability because of an...

Return of the Brains trust

If there is a silver lining when talking about the global COVID-19 pandemic, it has to be the return to our shores of thousands of highly skilled Kiwis. For years, New Zealand has been a casualty of what has been termed ‘brain drain’, as highly qualified New Zealanders left in search of opportunities aboard. Recent figures show that over 50,000...

Pro Legal

Employers need to balance growth with volatility from COVID-19

No doubt we are all spending a lot of time considering what sort of year 2021 will be. New Zealand has been very fortunate compared to the rest of the world, however, there are still plenty of challenges we are facing particularly for those in certain industries such as tourism and events, most recently highlighted by the cancellation of the...