| We’re hearing a version of the same line more and more from landowners weighing up subdivision: “I’m going to wait until after the election to decide.”
It’s understandable. Nobody wants to commit to a big decision before knowing who’s in charge or how things might change. But if subdivision is something you’ve been thinking about, waiting for the election, or the new planning rules, isn’t as safe as it may appear. The timing doesn’t work the way people think Election day is Saturday 7 November 2026. But the legislation replacing the RMA is on track to become law before then, with the final vote expected later this month and sign-off to follow shortly after. If you’re waiting to “see what happens” with the planning reform, there won’t be anything left to wait for. It’ll already be settled. A new government takes its own time too Even once the votes are counted, forming a government has taken anywhere from two to six weeks in recent elections. Realistically, “after the election” often means sometime in December, and by then the Christmas holidays are here. That’s a long stretch to put a decision on hold for a level of certainty you may not get anyway. What’s actually changing with the RMA We’ve been through the detail on the subdivision side of the reform, and honestly, most of it is tidy-up. Two things are worth knowing about though:
Will it actually get easier? The RMA reform’s big promise is simplicity: fewer regional plans, fewer zones, faster consents, lower compliance costs. It’s great in theory, and some of it will probably actually happen. But we’ve all seen this before. The RMA itself was introduced in 1991 to replace a tangle of old laws with one simple system. Three decades of amendments later, the country ended up with over 1,100 different zoning categories and consenting costs that only increased. The last attempt to replace it lasted 123 days before being scrapped by the next government. None of that means this reform is doomed. But good intentions and a clean first draft don’t guarantee a simpler result once the detail, the amendments, and the court decisions catch up with it. For some properties, subdivision may genuinely get easier. For others, particularly anywhere with hazard exposure, where the rules are already tightening, it may end up harder than it is today. A simple next step If you’ve been thinking about subdivision for a while, now’s the time to get in touch. A quick call with us can tell you what’s possible today, regardless of what happens at the ballot box or in Parliament. |