New Zealand directors at risk of harm can soon apply to use an alternative address

From 18 November 2026, New Zealand’s rules on the publication of directors’ residential addresses are changing.

Once the Companies (Address Information) Amendment Act 2025 (the Act) is in force, directors may apply to have an alternative address shown on the New Zealand Companies Register if they consider that public availability of their residential address is likely to result in physical or mental harm to them or someone they live with.

Under the current Companies Act 1993 regime, a director must provide their residential address to the Registrar when the director is registered. That address is generally publicly available on the Companies Register.

The public nature of directors’ addresses has long raised privacy and safety concerns from directors, who could remove their residential address from the Companies Register only in very limited circumstances. The Act aims to address those concerns, at least in part.

What is changing?

The Act allows a director (whether an existing or a prospective director) to apply to the Registrar in the prescribed form for the director’s residential address to be withheld from the public register and replaced with an alternative address. If the application complies with the statutory requirements, the Registrar must take reasonable steps to prevent public access to the residential address and ensure that the alternative address is publicly available. This includes taking reasonable steps to redact the residential address from publicly available documents where necessary.

The Act does not provide a general suppression mechanism for shareholders. However, where the director is also a shareholder, the alternative address will also apply to that person in their capacity as shareholder. The same mechanism applies where the director of a company resides with a shareholder of that company, provided that the shareholder consents to being covered by the application. In those circumstances, the Registrar must take reasonable steps to prevent public access to the shareholder’s residential address and show the director’s alternative address for the shareholder on the Companies Register. The company may also replace the shareholder’s residential address with the alternative address in the share register available for inspection.

What are the requirements?

The Companies Act 1993 (Address Information) Amendment Regulations 2026 (the Regulations), which also commence on 18 November 2026, set out the information requirements for the application. The director must specify their name (including any other names by which that director is known on the Companies Register), phone number, email address, residential address, proposed alternative address and any companies of which the director is or will be a director.

Where the application also covers the director in their capacity as a shareholder, or a shareholder who lives with the director, the relevant shareholder details must also be provided.

An application by a director must also include a statutory declaration made by the director verifying that public availability of the director’s residential address is likely to result in physical or mental harm to the director or someone living with the director. Notably, the Regulations do not require supporting evidence of the risk of harm beyond the director’s statutory declaration.

The application must also be accompanied by any prescribed fee.

An alternative address must not be the company’s registered office or address for service, a postal centre or a document exchange (such as a PO box). The Act permits the address to be the offices of an accounting firm, barristers and solicitors, or another person, provided the address identifies that arrangement and gives sufficient details to locate the relevant office or premises. Similar location details are required where the address is in a building containing multiple premises. A person may have only one alternative address at any time. Directors should choose the alternative address carefully as it can also be used for service of legal proceedings and other documents.

The application process is not limited to residential addresses provided after commencement of the Act. It can also apply to residential address information already held by the Registrar, although applications cannot be made until the new regime is in force.

What is not changing?

Directors must still provide their residential addresses to the Registrar. The new regime restricts public access; it does not erase those addresses from the Registrar’s records.

Companies must also continue to hold the required residential address information in their internal records. However, where the new regime applies, they may use the alternative address in place of the residential address in company records available for public inspection, including the relevant share register.

What happens next?

The Regulations now specify the information required for an application. The Companies Office has said it will publish detailed application guidance when the new regime takes effect on 18 November 2026. Practical details, including processing times and how historical documents will be identified and redacted, remain to be clarified.

Directors concerned that publication of their residential address could put them or someone they live with at risk should consider whether the new regime may assist them. Ahead of commencement on 18 November 2026, they should review the director and shareholder information held on the Companies Register and identify a suitable alternative address. Contact our team for advice or for help preparing an application.