Bill to Modernise Land Transfer Legislation
In November 2010, the Minister for Land Information announced his intention to introduce a Bill this year to modernise and streamline New Zealand’s land transfer legislation. The Bill is intended to simplify and modernise the law to make it more accessible and to improve certainty of property rights.
Key measures include:
- Giving the court limited discretion, in the event of fraud or other illegality, to restore a landowner's registered title in rare cases where such intervention is warranted to avoid a manifestly unjust result.
- Reinforcing the obligations of lenders to properly verify landowner identity for mortgage purposes.
- Clarifying the scope of the Registrar-General of Land's powers of correction.
- Providing new mechanisms for noting land covenants where the benefit attaches to a person rather than other land.
The Bill will implement the recommendations from the Law Commission’s report A New Land Transfer Act. The report is the result of the review of the Land Transfer Act 1952 carried out by the Commission in conjunction with LINZ.
The Bill is expected to be introduced in the second half of this year. The public will have an opportunity to make submissions when the Bill has been referred to a select committee.
Cabinet Paper
Read the Cabinet Paper: Law Commission Report – A New Land Transfer Act (PDF 136KB)
Regulatory Impact Statement
Read the Regulatory Impact Statement: Law Commission Report – A New Land Transfer Act (PDF 85KB)
