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Land Transport Act 1998

Enforcement of responsibilities - Powers of entry, arrest, immobilisation, and impoundment

119: Powers of entry

You could also call this:

“When the police can enter buildings without permission”

You can enter a building or place without permission in certain situations. This is what the law says about when you can do this:

If you’re chasing someone who hasn’t stopped when asked and you think they’ve been driving dangerously or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you can enter a building they’ve gone into. You can do this to check if you need to use your powers to test them or to actually use those powers.

You can also enter a building without permission to take a vehicle if:

  • You’ve been chasing the vehicle
  • You think someone was about to hide or destroy the vehicle
  • You think the vehicle was going to be used in a serious crime

In these cases, you can enter if it’s not practical to get permission first, like if it’s late at night.

If you’re not in one of these urgent situations, you need to get permission from the person who owns or uses the building, or you need to get a warrant from a judge.

When you enter a building for these reasons, you can’t arrest anyone unless it’s for specific driving offences.

Remember, there are rules about how to search places and take things, and you need to follow these rules when you enter buildings or take vehicles.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM435114.

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Part 9 Enforcement of responsibilities
Powers of entry, arrest, immobilisation, and impoundment

119Powers of entry

  1. An enforcement officer may exercise the powers conferred by subsection (2) if the enforcement officer—

  2. has good cause to suspect that a person—
    1. has failed to comply with a requirement under section 114(2) or (3) (relating to stopping a vehicle, remaining stopped, or giving information to an enforcement officer); and
      1. has also committed or is committing an offence against section 35(1)(a) or section 35(1)(b) (which relate to reckless or dangerous driving offences), or is, or has recently been, driving under the influence of drink or a drug, or both; and
      2. is freshly pursuing that person.

        1. The enforcement officer may, without warrant, in the course of the pursuit enter, by force if necessary, any premises which the person has entered, for either or both of the following purposes:

        2. determining whether or not a power conferred on an enforcement officer by section 68, 69, or 71A should be exercised in respect of that person:
          1. exercising or completing the exercise of any such power in respect of that person (as if the person were in a motor vehicle on a road).

            1. The provisions of Part 4 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (except subpart 3) apply in respect of the power in subsection (2).

            2. An enforcement officer may, without warrant, enter, by force if necessary, a building or place where a vehicle to which section 96, 96AAA, 96AAB, 96A, or 123 applies is being stored or kept, and seize and impound the vehicle,—

            3. if—
              1. an enforcement officer has been freshly pursuing the vehicle; or
                1. it is likely that a person was about to remove, conceal, destroy, or dispose of the vehicle; or
                  1. an enforcement officer believes on reasonable grounds that the vehicle was about to be used in the commission of an imprisonable offence (within the meaning of section 5 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011); and
                  2. if, because of the time of the day or the locality, it was impracticable to obtain a warrant without creating an opportunity for the person to do anything referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) or (iii).

                    1. For the purposes of seizing and impounding a vehicle under section 96, 96AAA, 96AAB, 96A, or 123 in any case where subsection (3) does not apply, an enforcement officer may enter a building or place where a vehicle to which that section applies is being stored or kept only with the consent of the occupier or under a warrant issued under subsection (5).

                    2. An enforcement officer may apply, in the manner provided for an application for a search warrant in subpart 3 of Part 4 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, to an issuing officer (within the meaning of section 3 of that Act), for a warrant to enter a place referred to in subsection (4) and, if satisfied that there is reasonable ground for believing that a vehicle to which section 96, 96AAA, 96AAB, 96A, or 123 applies is being stored or kept in the building or place, the issuing officer may issue a warrant authorising an enforcement officer to enter, by force if necessary, any part of the building or place, and seize and impound the vehicle.

                    3. The provisions of Part 4 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 apply in respect of the powers in subsections (3) and (5) (except for subpart 3 of that Part in relation to subsection (3)).

                    4. An enforcement officer who enters any premises under this section may not exercise on those premises any power of arrest conferred by this Act other than a power of arrest conferred by any of sections 68(3), 69(6), and 120.

                    Compare
                    Notes
                    • Section 119(1)(a)(i): replaced, on , by section 22(1) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                    • Section 119(2)(a): amended, on , by section 33 of the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 5).
                    • Section 119(2A): inserted, on , by section 268(2) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (2012 No 24).
                    • Section 119(3): replaced, on , by section 268(3) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (2012 No 24).
                    • Section 119(3): amended, on , by section 22(2) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                    • Section 119(3)(a)(iii): amended, on , by section 61(1) of the Statutes Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 104).
                    • Section 119(4): amended, on , by section 22(3) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                    • Section 119(4): amended, on , by section 67(2) of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 77).
                    • Section 119(5): amended, on , by section 22(3) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                    • Section 119(5): amended, on , by section 61(2) of the Statutes Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 104).
                    • Section 119(5): amended, on , by section 268(4) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (2012 No 24).
                    • Section 119(5): amended, on , by section 67(3) of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 77).
                    • Section 119(6): replaced, on , by section 268(5) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (2012 No 24).