New Zealand Property Law Bill

In order to clarify, simplify, streamline and make the laws relating to real estate transactions more transparent, a fully rewritten and revised New Zealand Property Law Bill has been presented to the New Zealand parliament for ratification.

The new bill has been a long time coming and if approved by parliament it will reduce the amount of litigation currently required in cases of dispute relating to the leasing of commercial property in New Zealand and it will clarify fully the rights and obligations of those who take out mortgages to fund the purchase of their own homes for example.  Possibly of even more interest to our readers, the passing of the bill will also make the overall property laws in New Zealand even more transparent for overseas investors looking for simple market entry.

The Law Commission in New Zealand first began lobbying for changes to the laws governing property transactions back in 1994, but because their calls for action were not seen as urgent, the changes to the bill have taken a long time to see the light of day and in the meantime they have been revised, honed and amended to remain fully relevant.

The bill in its most basic form is a rewrite of the 1952 Property Law Bill, but in actual fact the significance of the new bill is far greater.  The 1952 bill was just a hashing together of all the laws in practice and on paper relating to real estate at the time – it therefore contains references to English legal statutes that date back as far as the thirteenth century and contains a complex compilation of rules contained in the Conveyancing Ordinance of 1842 and is full of irrelevance and contradictory information.

Naturally enough a great deal of information in the 1952 bill is therefore irrelevant today and the overly wordy legal descriptions and the old fashioned language used to clarify certain key legal points needs to be rewritten because at the moment it is the basis upon which claimants and defendants in cases of property dispute are having to base their arguments.  The Law Commission has criticised the wording of the old bill in particular and accused it of causing greater confusion to abound in the property market in New Zealand as a result of its lack of clarity.

The Property Law Bill applies to commercial and residential property in New Zealand, it covers the rights of foreign and domestic buyers and sellers or real estate and it clarifies the rules relating to the purchase, sale and mortgaging of real estate assets as well as commercially leased property and the rights and obligations of all parties involved in all relevant property transactions.

The law will make everything more streamlined, it will make it easier for companies and investors to profitably transact in property and it will protect the rights of all interested parties involved in property transactions whether that be the purchase, sale, rent or lease of property.  At the moment the bill has only just been tabled before New Zealand’s parliament but it is expected that it will have a smooth transition through the correct channels and become law in the immediate future.

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