Find a debtor’s address

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You need to know a debtor’s correct address before the court can take some enforcement actions on your behalf.

If the debtor hasn’t provided a correct address, you can try to find the address yourself, or you can request confidential address information from a government agency.

How to find the debtor’s address yourself

To find the debtor’s address yourself, you can:

How to make a confidential address request to a government agency

You can make a confidential address request to the following government agencies for no charge.

If an agency finds an address for the debtor, the agency will give this to the court. The court will then send you a letter to let you know the outcome.

Ministry of Justice

You can either:

  • write on your enforcement application form that you want us to check our records or

send a confidential address request form [PDF, 59 KB]

Ministry of Social Development

Email your confidential address request form to oia_requests@msd.govt.nz

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Send in an application for contact information [PDF, 138 KB]

Other government agencies

You can also write to any other government agency you think might hold the debtor’s address. You can ask them to provide the address under the Official Information Act 1982.

Check the Directory of Official Information to find out what information each agency holds, and their contact details.

You can make another request at a later date if needed.

You need to inform the court if a new address is found

If you find a new address for the debtor, you need to add this information to new or in-progress enforcement applications. 

  • New enforcement applications: write on the form that you want the court to use the confidential address.
  • In-progress enforcement applications: file a new address.

Filing a new address for in-progress enforcement actions

If your enforcement application is in progress, and a new address is required, you need to file a new address.

You must pay the fee each time you file a new address for the debtor.

The filing fee will be added to the only debt once, even if you file a new address more than once.

You may need to file a new address for these enforcement actions:

  • filing a financial statement
  • financial assessment hearing summons
  • assessment of financial means summons
  • order for examination
  • contempt of enforcement proceedings summons
  • warrant to seize property
  • warrant to arrest.

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