Crown Land

Most Crown agencies administer their own property. Crown agencies can acquire or dispose of Crown land under various Acts including the Public Works Act 1981 or Land Act 1948. They must follow the Crown Property standards LINZ sets and submit work to LINZ for statutory approval. If you have an enquiry about a particular property you should contact the appropriate land-holding department directly. For contact details for all departments, use the website www.govt.nz. The main agencies that deal with Crown land other than LINZ are the Ministry of Education, the Department of Defence, the Office of Treaty Settlements and the Department of Conservation.

LINZ administers three million hectares of Crown land or 11% of New Zealand's land area. LINZ has a range of functions it carries out including pest management on major New Zealand lakes, issuing Crown Forest licences and renting out Crown property.

Crown Property Roles

Crown Property Management

The Crown Property Management group is primarily responsible for controlling the ownership function of LINZ properties. This involves managing contracts for the administration and disposal of LINZ Properties and making decisions on the LINZ portfolio under delegation from the General Manager Property Regulation and the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The group is also involved in the management of Crown forest licences, Crown Pastoral leases and land and property related activities which are assigned to the group such as the recently completed Alexandra Flood Remediation land purchases.

Private sector contractors and accredited suppliers carry out much of the operational work on behalf of LINZ.

Property Regulatory Group

The Property Regulatory Group sets Standards for the efficient acquisition, administration, management and disposal of Crown property and land-related liabilities. The Group also performs quality assurance and makes statutory decisions on Crown property transactions through the Property Clearances team and provides technical advice to government on Crown property matters.

The Group also accredits private sector providers to ensure that people who supply work for the Crown are competent to do so.

Property Clearances

The Property Clearances team undertakes quality assurance checks on reports and recommendations supplied by Accredited Suppliers for the acquisition, disposal and management of lands of the Crown. If these are in order, a statutory decision is made and any legal documents that are required are signed. The team operates under delegations from the Minister for Land Information, Chief Executive of LINZ and Commissioner of Crown Lands.

For information contact Trevor Knowles: Principal Adviser Property Clearances tel 04 460 0584, fax 04 460 0194, email: tknowles@linz.govt.nz

Commissioner of Crown Lands

The Commissioner of Crown Lands exercises rights of ownership and has statutory responsibility for all Crown land under the Land Act 1948 and exercises statutory powers and functions under a number of other Acts, including the Crown Pastoral Land Act 1998 and Treaty of Waitangi claim settlement legislation. The Commissioner delegates his statutory powers and functions to staff of the department.

What's available

• Crown Forest Licences: licences to harvest trees on Crown Forest land
• Management of Crown Land: for rent, lease, sale or transfer
• Bona vacantia and escheat information