Reference articles
Longer reading behind the frequently asked questions
These articles sit behind the FAQ. Where a short answer is not enough, they set out how searches are run in New Zealand, what the law requires before you run them, and how to keep a record that survives review.
Skip tracing
Is skip tracing legal in New Zealand?
Skip tracing is lawful in New Zealand when it is done for a proper purpose, using permitted records, by a person entitled to do the work. Here is the law that sets those limits.
Finding a current address in New Zealand, lawfully
The records that hold a current address, the order that finds one fastest, and the corroboration step that stops a wrong match.
Reading a credit-linked address history
An address history is a list of moments when someone told an organisation where they lived. Reading it well means reading the dates, not just the addresses.
Compliance
What is an authorised-purpose declaration?
An authorised-purpose declaration is the statement, made before a search, that makes the search lawful. Here is what it must contain and how it is tested later.
Public-register data versus credit-reporting information
A company search and a credit file answer different questions and sit under different rules. Confusing the two is a common source of over-collection.
What a professional search audit should record
An audit log is only useful if it was built to answer a question nobody has asked yet. Here is what belongs in it.
Adverse media, sanctions and PEP screening
Screening is three different checks wearing one label. Knowing which is which is what stops a common surname from becoming a compliance incident.
Customer due diligence in practice
The AML/CFT obligations are written as outcomes, not as a checklist of searches. This maps the outcomes onto the records that actually prove them.
Credit and collections
Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 for collections teams
The Code governs who may see credit information and why. This is what it means day to day for a recoveries team.
Skip tracing for debt recovery in New Zealand
Locating the debtor is only half the job. The other half is deciding, on evidence, whether the file is worth pursuing.
Identity
Verifying an identity without breaching privacy
Identity verification is a corroboration exercise, not a data grab. What to check, in what order, and what not to collect.
Legal
How to assess a debtor's asset position
Recoverability is a question you can answer before filing or spending on enforcement. Here is the order of enquiry that answers it fastest, and how to read what it shows.
What evidence supports reasonable enquiry
Courts and creditors ask the same question in different words: what did you actually do to find this person? Here is the evidence that answers it.
Company and director
Director privacy changes and company searches
Less director detail on the public register changes how you establish who is behind a company. It does not make it impossible.
How to search a company and its directors
The companies register is the cheapest reliable intelligence in New Zealand, and the most commonly skim read. Here is what each field is worth.
Finding who is behind an entity
The register names the shareholders. Working out who benefits usually takes three or four sources read against each other.
Digital footprint
Social media and digital footprint tracing
A phone number or username is often the strongest identifier on a stale file. What that trace can lawfully reach, and what it cannot.
Process serving
How to verify an address before service
A failed attempt costs more than the search that would have prevented it. The step-by-step method for confirming occupancy before you attend.
Comparison
One platform or six logins
Holding an account with every provider is workable. The cost of it is spread across logins, invoices, formats and reconciliation time, which is where it hides.
Skip-tracing software versus an outsourced investigator
Software and an outsourced investigator solve the same problem in different ways. The right choice usually depends on volume and complexity, not price alone.
Litigation history
Litigation history searches by party name
Published decisions name the parties, and searching by name is one of the fastest ways to see how a person or company behaves in a dispute. The limits matter as much as the results.
Media archive
Using a media archive in a background enquiry
Decades of published New Zealand reporting sit behind paywalls and outside search engine reach. Used carefully, an archive fills gaps that no register can.
Asset and security
How to run a PPSR search and read the result
The Personal Property Securities Register answers a narrow question well. Most errors come from asking it a question it was never built to answer.
Property
How to check who owns a property
A record of title names the registered owner and the interests over the land. It does not tell you who benefits, and that gap is where most enquiries go wrong.
Insolvency
Checking bankruptcy and liquidation status
Insolvency status changes what you can lawfully do next. The register is public, but the procedures behind the labels are not interchangeable.
Insurance and risk
Investigating an insurance claim proportionately
Most claims deserve a light check and a small number deserve a thorough one. The skill is matching the enquiry to the indicators you actually have.
Corporate and compliance
Pre-employment and vendor due diligence
Verification and surveillance are different activities with different legal footing. Most disputes start when a check quietly turns into the second one.
All articles were reviewed in August 2026. For short answers, start with the frequently asked questions.
For how the platform itself works, read the platform overview, the integrated data sources and our compliance position.
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