Northland removed from the earthquake-prone building system

Published on 30 September 2026

The Government has removed earthquake-prone building requirements from Northland as part of changes affecting the upper North Island and the Chatham Islands.

All earthquake-prone buildings in these areas will be removed from the earthquake-prone building register, and no buildings can be designated earthquake-prone buildings in the future.

The changes have been made to reflect the lower likelihood of earthquakes in the upper North Island and Chatham Islands compared to the rest of the country.

There is still some level of earthquake risk, and some buildings may not perform as well as others in an earthquake.

Building owners will not be required by legislation to have engineering assessments done and can now consider seismic upgrades in their own time as part of ongoing building maintenance.

For building owners in Whangārei and across Northland, this means buildings previously identified as earthquake-prone will no longer be treated as earthquake-prone under the revised system, and no new earthquake-prone building notices can be issued.

More information on the changes can be found on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's website: 

Changes to the earthquake-prone building system (building.govt.nz)