Farmers have historically employed migrant workers under the Essential Skills Work Visa. However, as of 4 July 2022, the Essential Skills Work Visa has been removed and replaced with the Accredited Employer Work Visa. If you are planning to employ migrant workers on your farm or...
The Water Services Act 2021 (“Water Act”) came into force on 1 November 2021. Its purpose is to ensure safe drinking water for all New Zealanders. It is common for a bore to supply multiple farms and houses, either through water agreements, or easements. The Water...
For centuries, trust law in New Zealand has been taken from many sources, including the Trustee Act 1956, and court decisions. But 2021 will bring trust law reform, whereby trust law will be contained in one statute, the Trusts Act 2019 (“the Act”). The Act, which...
March 2020 saw most New Zealanders locked down by a global pandemic, but the rural industry was still very much “business as usual”. During the lockdown period, there were some big changes to the Healthy Rivers Proposed Plan Change 1 (“PC1”), but one overarching factor...
Since the Covid-19 Level 4 Lockdown, many people have been taking part in the Government’s Wage Subsidy Scheme. This scheme is available for a 12-week period, and supports all businesses and their employees by ensuring employees receive income, even when they are unable to work...
The end of 2019 marked some interesting changes to the widely used sale and purchase agreement, with the new document minimising the opportunity for purchasers to back out of agreements by reason of ‘failure to obtain finance’. The new sale and purchase agreement (“tenth edition”), which...
BlackmanSpargo is adhering to the government’s instructions yesterday on Covid-19 for businesses to close their doors and for staff to work from home. We will hold meetings at a distance, either by telephone, Zoom, Skype or FaceTime. Please continue to contact us by telephone or email,...
MyMilk is a wholly owned company of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (“Fonterra”). It was set up to secure the supply of milk and does not require the supplier to purchase Fonterra shares. MyMilk is a great opportunity for suppliers to supply Fonterra without incurring the cost...
It is critical that you consider and plan for what happens after you pass away. A death in the family is a stressful event for the remaining family members, and if the deceased person does not have an effective and resilient estate plan in place, the...
September is Wills month and we're supporting the Geyser Community Foundation. If you'd like to make a simple change to an existing Will, to include a gift to the local community through the Geyser Community Foundation (at no charge) please contact us on 07 343...