Legal Lowdown Newsletter#17

ISSUE

17 NOVEMBER 2014

LAW NEWS & RFEFORM p1-4 I COMMUNITY p5 I OUTREACH p6

LEGAL LOWDOWN

COMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICES SOUTH TRUST

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Tenancy Services: FastTrack Resolution TENANCY: FASTTRACK RESOLUTION To help streamline tenancy disputes resolution, Tenancy Services have developed a new dispute resolution service which is aimed at making it faster and easier for landlords and tenants to formalize an agreement made following a dispute.

If there is a dispute between a landlord and tenant, that has since been resolved by agreement between both parties, a landlord can now file a FastTrack Resolution application with the Tenancy Tribunal to formalize that agreement by way of a Mediator’s Order.

A Mediator’s Order is a formal record of an agreement between a tenant and landlord, made by a Mediator. Under the new process, a Mediator will contact both parties to determine whether both parties understand what has been agreed to and to discuss the consequences of noncompliance with the Order.

To become a legally binding document, the Mediator’s Order can be referred to a Tenancy Tribunal Adjudicator who can formalise the Order.

The Mediator will forward a copy of the Order to both parties to keep on record and to ensure that the terms of the Order are being met.

For more information about the new FastTrack Resolution Service or for tenancy advice please visit www.tenancy.govt.nz or call 0800 83 62 62

© CLSST, 2014 - (09) 274 4966

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LAW REFORM Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill This omnibus bill is aimed at strengthening the law to combat organised crime and corruption. The bill proposes amendments to 12 different Acts to improve New Zealand's ability to collaborate with international efforts to disrupt organised crime and ensure law enforcement agencies can quickly and effectively respond to new challenges.

Sources: www.parliament.nz

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LAW NEWS: News in Community Law TRAFFIC LAW: KEEPING SAFE ON THE ROAD MINOR DRIVING OFFENCES

SERIOUS DRIVING OFFENCES

These are offences (other than infringement offences)

These are offences where the maximum fine is more than

where the maximum monetary penalty is $2,000 or less and

$2,000 (and for some offences is up to $20,000), or where a

there is no possibility of imprisonment.

sentence of imprisonment may be given. There is also often a possible penalty of disqualification.

How are minor driving offences dealt with?

Examples of serious driving offences include:

Unless a summons is issued, a District Court will send a minor offence notice to the person who has offended.

The defendant then has the opportunity to deny and defend the charge.

Minor traffic offences are usually dealt with by way of fines, but can involve disqualification from driving

careless driving (where a person drives carelessly or without reasonable consideration for other people using the road) reckless driving (where the driver foresees the potential danger but continues to drive in a reckless manner despite knowing the possible consequences) failing to stop after an accident.

If a person denies the offence or wants to appear before a judge, they must write to the court by the date stated in the

Careless driving can be committed with any vehicle, not just

notice.

a motor vehicle, including bicycles, a skateboard, in-line skates, and roller skates. In the case of a serious driving of-

They will then be summoned to court.

offence, the defendant will be summoned to appear in the

If a person wishes to plead guilty to a minor driving offence,

District Court and the matter will follow the same proce-

they can often do this by letter so that they don't have to

dures as for a criminal court case.

appear in court.

If a person pleads guilty by letter, or does not give written notice that he or she denies the offence, the court will deal with the matter while the person is not there.

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LAW NEWS: News in Community Law TRAFFIC LAW: KEEPING SAFE ON THE ROAD INFRINGMENT OFFENCES Infringement offences include parking offences, toll offences, speeding and overloading offences, breaches of the road code, unsafe vehicles and some under-20 drink driving offences.

What happens if a person does nothing after receiving an infringement notice?

If a person does nothing, then after 28 days they will be issued with a reminder notice explaining fully how to defend the

If a Police officer has reasonable cause to believe an infringe-

charge and containing a statement of their rights.

ment offence has been committed, the officer may issue an In particular the reminder notice must contain:

infringement notice.

An infringement notice must be in the form required by law and may be served: by attaching it to the vehicle to which it relates by delivering it to the person who appears to have committed the offence by posting it to the last known address of the person who appears to have committed the offence if the person is the holder of a land transport document (for example, a driver licence), by posting it to the last known address provided for the purpose of that document.

Pay the infringement fee If the person accepts that they committed the infringement offence and simply wishes to pay the infringement fee, they need to pay the fee in full (including any towing fee) within 28 days of the notice being issued. If they do this, the matter will

details of the alleged offence, including time, place and nature for speeding offences, the speed limit and the speed the person was allegedly travelling whether any demerit points apply to the offence if there is a scale of infringement fees, the extent of the ofoffence alleged, and the amount of any infringement fee how the infringement fee can be paid the time within which the infringement fee may be paid a statement that it is a defence if the person proves the infringement fee has been paid before or within 28 days of the service of the reminder notice if it is a moving vehicle offence, a summary of the provisions in section 133 of the Land Transport Act that outline who proceedings may be taken against advice of the right to request a hearing advice as to what will happen if the person doesn't pay the infringement fee and doesn't request a hearing.

end and no further action will be taken against them.

Write a letter to enforcement authority

What happens if a person does nothing after receiving a reminder notice?

The person should write to the enforcement authority if:

If the person does nothing after receiving a reminder notice, the

they deny liability for the offence and want to request a court hearing they wish to raise a matter concerning the circumstances of the offence that they want the enforcement authority to consider they admit liability but want to make written submissions to the court (for example, about the circumstances of the ofoffence or about the penalty).

enforcement authority can lodge the infringement notice or infringement reminder notice with the court, so that it can be enforced. A lodgment fee of $30.67 is added to the amount of the unpaid infringement ticket and it will then be treated in the same way as a court-imposed fine.

The court will allow a further 28 days for the fine and court costs to be paid. If no action is taken, the court will impose another enforcement fee of $102.22.

The enforcement authority will be the Police, local council or some other official authority Š CLSST, 2014 - (09) 274 4966

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LAW NEWS: News in Community Law REFORM OF PRACTICES

MAORI

TRADE

MARK

In our April 2014 edition of Legal Lowdown, we published an article on the Haka Ka Mate Attribution Act 2014. The passing of this Act has prompted the Intellectual Property Office New Zealand (IPONZ) to make changes to practice guidelines that apply to parts of the Trade Marks Act 2002 around Maori Trade Marks.

The new changes prescribe the appointment of an advisory committee whether registration of trade marks which appear to be derivative of Maori text or imagery is likely to be offensive to Maori.

OUTDOOR FIRE SAFETY BY-LAW It is expected that a new Auckland-wide outdoor fire safety bylaw will come into force in late December 2014. The new Bylaw will seek to protect people, property and the environment from the risk of fire in the outdoors. The new bylaw will replace four existing bylaws.

To view the new guidelines, please visit the IPONZ website at: www.iponz.govt.nz Source: Intellectual Property Office New Zealand

The new bylaw: applies to a range of outdoor fire activities including outdoor cooking and heating fires, fireworks, braziers, barbeques, sky lanterns, traditional cooking fires, open air fires and incinerator fires determines what type of outdoor fires are allowed in urban and rural areas and the general conditions that must be met when lighting an outdoor fire sets out a process for the council to declare a temporary fire ban on all types of outdoor fires (excluding gas fuelled outdoor fires) in extreme fire hazard conditions sets out a process for approving outdoor fires when necessary requires a person to be responsible for minimising potential fire hazards, such as disposing of hot ash and the storage of combustible materials The final bylaw will be available online once adopted.

For more information on the new bylaw, please see the Auckland Council website: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

ALL THE BEST EDWIN! Our Manager’s Assistant and Lawyer Edwin Sheppard left us, this month, after 8 months’ service with CLSST. During his time with CLSST Edwin was involved with a number of tenancy, consumer, employment and Care of Children matters.

We are sad to see Edwin go but are excited for what the future holds for him.

Farewell Edwin! And all the best from us here at Community Legal Services South Trust.

Source: Auckland Council Website

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COMMUNITY LAW: Our Community Community Law National Conference The Annual Community Law Centres of Aotearoa, National Conference is an opportunity for Community Law Centres to come together and discuss issues pertinent to the CLC movement and to attend upskilling workshops.

This year two of our lawyers were invited to present at the Immigration Law workshop. They covered powers to grant visas as an exception to instructions, humanitarian & residence appeals and Minister of Immigration discretional powers.

For advice on Immigration matters please contact our office.

Photo: CLSST Lawyers Soane Foliaki & Hardeep Singh Presenters of the Immigration Law Seminar at the National Conference

CLSST says NO to Violence White Ribbon Day (25 November 2014) seeks to spread awareness of domestic violence prevention.

One of the key messages of White Ribbon is that “IT IS OK TO ASK FOR HELP”. For more information please see the following links: NMSVS: www.nnsvs.org.nz Women's Refuge: www.womensrefuge.org.nz White Ribbon: whiteribbon.org.nz

Photo: CLSST staff & volunteers spreading awareness

Pasifika Newcomer Settlement Support On 27 November 2014, Soane Foliaki spoke about immigration, consumer and employment matters to service providers for migrants who have just been granted New Zealand residency. His presentation was arranged by ARMS to increase awareness among new migrants about legal issues they may face while in New Zealand. Soane’s presentation sought to mitigate exploitation of new migrants who are unfamiliar with New Zealand laws.

Photo: CLSST lawyer Soane Foliaki presenting to the Pasifika Newcomer settlement delegation

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COMMUNITY LAW: Our Community

Student Placement - Manukau Institute of Technology This month we said farewell to one of our student volunteers Ana Finau who came to us from Manukau Institute of Technology. Ana, who was part of the Foundation Education for Tertiary Study programme assisted with day-to-day administrative functions such as data input, photocopying and filing and mail.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank Ana for her services and wish her all the best for her future endeavors.

Photo: CLSST staff with student volunteer Ana Finau.

OUTREACH CLINICS: Our Community Otara CLSST Office 120 Bairds Road Otara

Manukau Salvation Army 16B Bakerfield Place Manukau

Papakura Papakura Citizens Advice Bureau 4a Opaheke Road Papakura

Appointments available: Monday – Friday

Appointments available: Monday-Friday

Appointments available: Thursday

Pukekohe Heartland Services 2 King Street Pukekohe

Manurewa Manurewa Marae 81 Finlayson Ave Manurewa

Saturday Legal Advice Clinic

Appointments available: Fortnightly on Tuesday

Appointments available: Wednesday

CLSST Office 120 Bairds Road, OTARA Appointments or Walk-ins: Fortnightly on Saturday (30 mins appointments from 9am12pm) NB: Walk-ins seen according to order of arrival

Š CLSST, 2014 - (09) 274 4966

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