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This is the narrative of a piece of land in Te Tau Ihu – Aorere. It sets out how Judge Reeves dealt with an application for accretion and for determination of ownership, where ownership records had not been maintained for over 100 years.
The Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025 came into force on 27 August 2025 introducing new ways for Māori landowners to take action around water service matters affecting whenua Māori. These include appealing decisions that allow water service providers to enter Māori land to do their work, and applying for charging orders if landowners have paid more than their share of water services charges on Māori freehold land held in multiple ownership.
These applications cannot be
filed online through Pātaka Whenua.
• Applications for appeals must use the General Form
of Application (Form 1) stating the Act and the
section under which application is made:
o Section 129(1A) – for Māori landowners
o Section 118C(4)(b) – for water service
providers.
These applications cannot be filed online through Pātaka
Whenua.
• Applications for appeals must use the General Form of Application
(Form 1) stating the Act and the section under which application is
made:
◦ Section 170(1) – for Māori landowners
◦ Section 166(4)(b) – for water service providers.
The Māori Land Court of New Zealand / Māori Appellate Court of New Zealand
[Please select the name of the Māori Land Court District in which your application will be lodged]
Select one District Taitokerau Waikato-Maniapoto Waiariki
Tairāwhiti Tākitimu Aotea Te Waipounamu
Subject of application – block / deceased / other matter
[Please state name and block number of land, Māori incorporation, person, or other matter in respect of which the application is made]
I
request that t...
In addition, while it remains important that kanohi-ki-te-kanohi justice is conducted in our courthouses, which play an important role as the local face of justice for our communities, we should endeavour to use alternative measures such as telephone conferencing, zoom and or AVL if this is more suitable to Māori land owners and ultimately assists Māori land owners’ access to justice.
If a water service provider asks for the landowner’s permission to enter the whenua and there is a disagreement, the provider and landowners go through an internal review process try and find a solution.