Crosslease

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1. Click on Find your property rates or valuation

crosslease

2. A new page will appear with three tabs – Property valuations | Property rates | Property information

Underneath your address details you will see the property’s ‘Legal description’ if your property is on a Cross-lease then it will be described- as discussed above as Flat X on Lot X DP XXXXXX. The X’s here representing the actual numbers of 1,2,3 etc. If you have a Cross-lease property or are considering purchasing one read on…

crosslease

Convert your Cross-Lease Property to Freehold

For many years Cross-lease title subdivisions were the most popular form of land subdivision for small to medium size projects and developers; particularly in Auckland and Canterbury, as they were quick and cost effective to complete and for a period of time did not attract any financial contributions to the local authority. A Cross-lease is where a number of people own an undivided percentage share in a piece of land and the homes that they build on the land are leased from the other land-owners (normally for a term of 999 years).

It is well documented though; that this form of title and ownership has some major challenges and the property market recognises this – if two identical properties were being marketed, one on a Cross-lease and the other a Freehold title, the latter would always attract the premium.

Research published in 2017 from the Property Institute of New Zealand suggests that the market tends to discount the value of a Cross-lease property with the 2014 -2015 figures at approximately eight percent.

Why would you want to convert a Cross-lease property to Freehold?

There is agreement that there is both immediate and long-term value in converting from a Cross-lease to a Freehold title; because:

Your property may be worth more on a Freehold (Fee Simple) title;
You will not be a co-owner of the land with another person(s) that can dictate conditions to you should you wish to undertake additions or alterations;
When selling you will not get drawn into any argument as to whether your title is defective or not;
Your property will be more attractive to raise a mortgage against; and
Ultimately, as owner of your own land you have the highest degree of freedom of usage and ownership.

What to do next

If your property, or a property that you are looking to purchase, is a Cross-lease and you would like to realise the benefits of converting to a Freehold title then we can help you. We will:

Look closely at the property and review the engineering and planning issues;
We can manage everything for you – planning, consenting, surveying, engineering (if necessary) and we have the in-house skills to assist you in getting the most of your property; and
Best of all, we will work with your lawyer.

Tom Bretherton, Managing Director, said “I have 25 years of experience with these and as a firm Envivo has completed hundreds of conversions of Cross-lease to Freehold and also the updating of deficient Cross-lease titles – if your preference; for whatever reason, is to maintain this form of title. The terminology may have changed over time, Flats Plans, Fee Simple, Freehold, Cross-lease and Unit Titles – we can explain these and help you get the most from your property. Our in-house consultants work together to provide a seamless range of services to ensure your resource consent is thoroughly prepared.”

Our Planners and Civil Engineers will review the Council property file and planning rules and determine if there are any special considerations that need to be taken into account.
A Licensed Cadastral Surveyor will visit the site and gather information on access, drainage, position of existing dwellings and any other features that are necessary to effect the change.
Our Civil Engineers will review and report on infrastructure, including sewage, water supply, stormwater drainage, earthworks, power and telecommunication services as well as any extra civil engineering services such as access, including roading, footpaths, driveways, etc.
Our planners will prepare a Resource consent and Assessment of Environmental Effect.
The Council may set conditions on the consent that requires improvements to be undertaken
Once these works are complete our Licensed Cadastral Surveyors will complete the Land Transfer Survey and apply for the 223 and 224(c) certificates.
Your trusted solicitor will then take over from here to work with us, lodge the documents with LINZ including the Order for New Certificates of Title.

Tom added “We will make it easy for you and having Planners, Civil and Structural Engineers, and Surveyors in house together with great relationships with Council means that our fees are always going to be competitive in the market.”

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