Certainty of Property Rights: What Are We Aiming to Achieve in This Area?
In this section...
- Statement of Intent Homepage 2009/2012
- Minister's foreword
- Introduction from the Chief Executive
- Nature & scope of functions
- Strategic context
- Strategic framework
- Operating intentions
- Managing in a changeable operating environment
- Cost effectiveness
- Assessing organisational health & capability
- Capital intentions
LINZ’s outcome in this area is that “investors and rightsholders have confidence that property rights over land are clear and certain, and can be traded efficiently”.
For most New Zealanders, buying a house will be their largest investment. This is also true for many businesses, where purchasing or leasing premises or a farm will be a significant part of their capital expenditure.
Achieving certainty of property rights is a cornerstone of a successful economy. For efficient trading and investment involving land, investors and rights-holders 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. Other actors in the property market share these needs, including conveyancers, surveyors, real estate agents and the lending community. If rights are unclear, confidence is reduced and unnecessary costs are created throughout the system, generating impediments to economic activity.
Achieving this outcome involves a focus for LINZ on, firstly, setting a robust regulatory framework and, secondly, designing and maintaining robust systems for defining and transacting land.
LINZ is concerned with three contributing outcomes that together create an effective and efficient system of property rights and transactions.
Contributing outcomes
Regulatory framework is clear and effective. The framework for land transactions is clear, up-to-date, and minimises the cost to investors and rights-holders.
Rights are clearly defined. Rights in land are accurately and clearly defined.
Transactions are accurately and efficiently recorded. Land transactions are recorded accurately, in a timely way, and at a reasonable cost to users.
Having convenient access to integrated land information is also necessary. Knowing who owns what rights enables decisionmaking and trading. It also plays a key role in providing confidence in and about those rights. This is the focus of LINZ’s second outcome area Authoritative land information.
