Overseas Investment (Build-to-rent and Similar Rental Developments) Amendment Bill
This bill makes it easier for overseas investors to buy or develop large rental housing in New Zealand. Currently, overseas investors face strict rules before they can own residential land here. This bill creates a new, simpler pathway — called the 'large rental development test' — that lets overseas investors own a group of 20 or more rental homes, as long as those homes are rented out to tenants under normal tenancy laws. It also tidies up a related rule so investors who use a property manager as a go-between aren't treated unfairly.
What this affects
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The bill makes it simpler for overseas investors to own or develop blocks of 20 or more rental homes in New Zealand, as long as those homes are actually rented out to tenants.
The large rental development test is met if the relevant Ministers are satisfied that… the residential land is a single site, or adjacent sites separated by infrastructure (such as roads), with 1 or more buildings that, taken together, consist of 20 or more dwellings suitable for use as, or conversion to, residential dwellings
at least 20 of the residential dwellings will be, or are likely to be, available for use… as a residential dwelling occupied under a residential tenancy to which the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 applies or would apply
The bill would create a new streamlined test: the 'large rental development test.' It would allow overseas investors to buy existing large rental developments
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 27 July 2024.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.