Section 455 of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 provides the Māori Land Court with the jurisdiction to identify successors and successors’ interests in SILNA lands.
Other status types
As this update is specifically for Māori Customary Land and Māori Freehold Land it excludes the
following land status types that fall within the jurisdiction of the Māori Land Court:
Crown Land
Crown Land Reserved for Māori
General Land (which maybe vested in a Māori Land Trust)
General Land Owned by Māori (which maybe vested in a Māori Land Trust);
Ownership Only (ownership interes...
Other status types
As this update is specifically for Māori Customary Land and Māori Freehold Land it excludes the
following land status types that fall within the jurisdiction of the Māori Land Court:
Crown Land
Crown Land Reserved for Māori
General Land (which maybe vested in a Māori Land Trust)
General Land Owned by Māori (which maybe vested in a Māori Land Trust);
Ownership Only (ownership interes...
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Māori Land Update –
Ngā Āhuatanga o te whenua
June 2025 | Hune 2025
This update is issued by the Office of the Chief Registrar, Māori Land Court | Te Kooti Whenua Māori
to provide key statistics on Māori land, including the number and total area of Māori Customary Land
(MCL) and Māori Freehold Land (MFL) blocks, and how many of these are managed by trusts or
incorporations versus those that are not.
The Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025
introduces new provisions that allow owners of Māori land
and water service providers to appeal to the Māori Land
Court over decisions about access to Māori land for water
infrastructure.
The Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025
introduces new provisions that allow owners of Māori
land and water service providers to appeal to the
Māori Land Court over decisions about access to Māori
land for water infrastructure.
Good governance is the key From the experiences of Māori Land Court Judges, good governance is the key to effective utilisation of Māori land held in multiple ownership.
1 CJ Media statement, “Note from Chief Justice Winkelmann” released 25 March 2020. 2 Māori Land Court COVID-19 Court protocol as at 23 March 2020. 3 Māori Land Court COVID-19 Court protocol as at 20 April 2020. 4 Māori Land Court COVID-19 Court protocol as at 12 May 2020.