Nature & Scope of Functions

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) carries out a range of activities that underpin social and economic activity and public services that benefit New Zealanders every day. Our work supports activities as diverse as buying a house, navigating the seas, and sending emergency services to the right place.

LINZ’s purpose is to:

• maintain and build confidence in property rights in land and geographic information, and
• encourage land information markets to develop and mature.

LINZ carries out three core roles relating to our purpose:

• transaction management – maintaining and operating the regulatory framework and systems for rights and transactions involving land
• information management – generating, collecting, compiling, and providing geographic information, and information relating to property rights and transactions, and
• land management – administering a range of Crown-owned lands for the benefit of the New Zealand public.

Transaction management

Buying property is one of the biggest investments New Zealanders make. It is important the framework is clear and the system works well. For investment and transactions involving land to happen smoothly, New Zealanders and overseas investors need to know exactly what they are transacting, what their rights and responsibilities are, and they need to be able to carry out the transaction easily and at reasonable cost. LINZ oversees the regulatory framework and systems for defining, and dealing in, property rights in land.

Our functions include:

• maintaining and improving regulatory frameworks used to define and transact land
• administering the process by which land is transferred, including creating new titles, and recording changes of ownership and interests in land
• providing a secure environment for buying, selling and subdividing land through guaranteed titles for property dealings, and an accurate system of land boundary definition
• providing a nationally consistent valuation system for rating purposes, and
• administering New Zealand’s inbound investment regime under the Overseas Investment Act 2005.

Information management

An effective system of property rights depends on having authoritative land information that gives property rights meaning ‘on the ground’.

Beyond defining property rights, geographic information serves a wide range of purposes, ranging from essential services such as national security, and emergency service responses, to defining electoral boundaries, and for commercial applications. This information is increasingly being used by sectors, organisations and individuals to plan and run their businesses, as well as provide products and services. It also has significant potential to assist local and national government planning and management. Our functions include:

• ensuring New Zealand has high-quality databases for its survey, mapping, hydrographic and property activities, and
• working across the wider land information sector to ensure useful geospatial information of many different kinds is readily available to support innovative use of this information by others.

Land management

LINZ manages almost three million hectares of Crown land, which is around 8% of New Zealand’s land area. This includes 1.6 million hectares of high country pastoral land in the South Island, Crown forest land in the North Island, approximately 4,000 properties, and river and lake beds. In managing Crown land effectively and efficiently, LINZ aims to protect New Zealanders’ interests by ensuring this land is put to best use. Our functions include:

• the acquisition, management and disposal of Crown land for which we are responsible
• the management of liabilities arising in relation to Crown land for which we are responsible, and
• the framework for disposal of Crown lands by other government agencies.

Statutory positions

In carrying out our functions, LINZ has a number of statutory officers with specific functions under the various Acts we administer – these are:

• Commissioner of Crown Lands
• Registrar-General of Land
• Surveyor-General, and
• Valuer-General.

In addition, LINZ has special responsibilities relating to land transactions under more than 50 other statutes. More detail on our different responsibilities and functions can be found on our website www.linz.govt.nz, including a list of the legislation we administer (or administer functions under).