People who can’t get a brothel operator certificate
A person in New Zealand who has a temporary or a limited purposes permit is not allowed to run a prostitution business or provide commercial sexual services.
Small owner-operated brothels don’t usually have an operator who should have a certificate. (A small owner-operated brothel has no more than 4 sex workers and each sex worker is in control of their earnings from the brothel.)
Forms to apply for a brothel operator certificate
A brothel certificate application costs $337.
You must include with your application form:
1 authenticated copy of an official photo identification, like your passport or New Zealand driver licence.
If you meet the requirements the Registrar will check if you have criminal convictions. Some convictions disqualify people from holding a certificate. These convictions include offences under:
parts of the Crimes Act 1961, punishable by 2 or more years in prison, including being part of an organised criminal group, sexual crimes, murder, manslaughter, assault, abduction, robbery, extortion, burglary and money laundering
If you’ve been denied a brothel operator certificate because of a conviction
If you’ve been denied a certificate because of a conviction you can apply to the Registrar of the Auckland District Court to have your disqualification waived.
To waive the disqualification a District Court judge needs to be satisfied that the offending happened so long ago or was of such a nature that it should not be a barrier to you getting a brothel operator certificate. The judge also needs to be satisfied you haven't been associating with people who might be disqualified and will ask the police to give a report.
Two months before your certificate is due to expire you should file a new application to the Auckland District Court to make sure you receive your new licence before your current licence expires.
Use the same application form and send it to the same postal address you used to apply.