What is the NZ Gazette and how do I search it for a builder?
Short answer
The NZ Gazette is the official journal of the New Zealand government — every liquidation, receivership, strike-off intention, and certain legal notices are published there. It's free to search at gazette.govt.nz. Searching a builder's company name there is the cleanest way to confirm whether they've ever been the subject of a formal insolvency notice.
Source: NZ Gazette — gazette.govt.nz. Updated May 2026.
Want to check the builder you're talking to? Check any NZ company, no signup.
Check a builderKey facts
- Free, public, searchable since 2014 online
- Notice codes: aw / al (liquidations), ba / ar (receiverships)
- Strike-off intentions appear under section 318 Companies Act notices
- Companies Office and Gazette mirror each other on insolvency events
- Older notices (pre-2014) are paper-only — may need ProQuest archive access
What's in the Gazette
Every formal corporate insolvency event in NZ. Liquidator appointments, receiver appointments, first creditors' meetings, final accounts, dissolution. Plus government notices unrelated to companies (parking restrictions, name changes, etc).
If a builder has ever been the subject of a liquidation, it's there. Even if the company is now revived, the original notice persists in the archive.
How to search
Type the company name into the search bar at gazette.govt.nz. Use the filters to narrow by notice type (Liquidation, Receivership, Removal). You'll get a list of dated notices with the original PDF.
Searching the director's name (rather than company) also works — useful for catching phoenix patterns where the company name changed but the people didn't.
Knowing the rules is half the job. The other half is knowing who you're hiring. Check any NZ builder against the public record: company status, licensing and insolvency notices, from the official NZ sources.
Related questions
Sources: NZ Gazette — gazette.govt.nz; Companies Act 1993 section 318. General information for NZ homeowners, not legal advice. Building rules change and vary by council, so confirm critical details on the official source before acting. Last updated 2026-05.