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Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

Miscellaneous provisions - Compliance and enforcement - Power to obtain information

286: Powers of entry and inspection

You could also call this:

"Compliance officers can enter places to check rules are being followed, with some exceptions and rules to follow."

Illustration for Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

A compliance officer can enter a place to check if the rules are being followed. They can do this for reasons listed in section 281(a) to (c). The officer can enter the place, inspect it, and take samples as described in section 282.

Before entering a place, the compliance officer must try to contact the owner or person in charge. If you live in a home, a compliance officer can only enter with your permission. They also need permission to enter land with a marae or urupā, or land that is a Māori reservation.

A compliance officer must give notice before entering Māori-owned land, and they must tell the owner, the marae, and sometimes the Māori Trustee. They are not allowed to enter a defence area without a special agreement. When a compliance officer enters a place, they must follow rules from the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, except for some specific parts.

If someone gives consent for a compliance officer to enter a place, that person must be able to make decisions for themselves. A compliance officer is also not allowed to enter a defence area, as defined in section 2(1) of the Defence Act 1990, without a written agreement.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1004863.

Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Food and water safetyGovernment and voting > Local councilsMāori affairs > Māori land
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287: Power to enter place without search warrant, or

"Compliance officers can enter some places without permission if there's a serious risk, but they need to follow rules."

Part 5Miscellaneous provisions
Compliance and enforcement: Power to obtain information

286Powers of entry and inspection

  1. A compliance officer may exercise a power under subsection (2) for 1 or more of the purposes in section 281(a) to (c).

  2. Subject to this section, a compliance officer may, in relation to a place,—

  3. enter the place; and
    1. inspect the place; and
      1. exercise the power set out in section 282 (power to take and test samples).

        1. Before exercising the power to enter a place, the compliance officer must make reasonable efforts to contact the owner, occupier, or person in charge of the place.

        2. A compliance officer must not enter a home, except with the consent of an occupier.

        3. A compliance officer must not enter any land on which a marae or an urupā is situated or that is a Māori reservation, except with the consent of an owner.

        4. A compliance officer must not enter any Māori-owned land unless, before entering, the compliance officer has given reasonable notice in writing to the owner (or owners) of the land and also to the following:

        5. the marae, if a marae is situated on the land:
          1. the trustees of the principal marae of the hapū that is associated with the land if—
            1. an urupā, but no marae, is situated on the land; or
              1. the land has been set apart as a Māori reservation:
              2. if the land is Māori customary land,—
                1. the trustees of the principal marae of the hapū that is associated with the land; and
                  1. the Māori Trustee.

                  2. A compliance officer must not enter a defence area (within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Defence Act 1990) under this section, except in accordance with a written agreement between the compliance officer’s chief executive and the Chief of Defence Force.

                  3. Part 4 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (other than subparts 2, 3, 6, and 8 and sections 118 and 119) applies to anything done under this section.

                  4. For the purposes of this section, in relation to circumstances in which consent is required, the person giving consent must be a person who has the capacity to consent.

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