Landwrap - November 2026

Kia ora

Welcome to this November edition of Landwrap.

LINZ has recently published our Annual Report for 2025/26, showing our performance over the course of the financial year. The LINZ Annual Report is available at:
Annual report 2025/26

Also, please note: If you have been using Landwrap@linz.govt.nz to connect with us, please update your records to customersupport@linz.govt.nz

A note about PHP vulnerability

You may have seen the recent media coverage of a cyber security vulnerability issue affecting many websites worldwide.  

On Wednesday 21 October 2026, the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) advised all New Zealand government agencies of a critical cyber security vulnerability affecting a web site request component called PHP. This component exists on approximately 70% of all global websites. 

Global cyber-attacks on this vulnerability commenced that Wednesday afternoon before an update or patch release could be made globally available. IT and IT Security personnel around the world worked hard to minimise the impact of these attacks on IT systems, which made global news headlines due to the severity and potential impacts. 

Some global organisations took their websites offline until the updates could occur. Fortunately, LINZ was able to implement a temporary security measure using our existing platform security technology, which allowed us time to obtain the update files and deploy them on Thursday afternoon. 

We work continuously to strengthen cyber security and encourage you to stay cyber aware by following trusted guidance and checking that your organisation’s systems are protected.

Our holiday hours and services availability

Our offices and services will have reduced availability over the Christmas period.

Landonline

Landonline will be unavailable from 10pm Thursday, 24 December 2026 until 6am Tuesday, 5 January 2027.

Contact Centre

Our Contact Centre will be closed from 2pm on Thursday, 24 December 2026 and will operate 8am to 4pm from Tuesday, 5 January to Friday, 15 January 2027. Normal hours resume on Monday, 18 January 2027.

Our offices

Our Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton offices will be closed from 2pm on Thursday, 24 December 2026 and will reopen Tuesday, 5 January 2027.

Wishing you and your whanau a safe and happy festive season.

You shared your experience with the Landonline Registration Authority account set up and maintenance process

In September 2026 we invited 268 customers to share with us their recent experience navigating our Registration Authority forms and processes.

Feedback is an opportunity to help us identify what is working well and where improvements can be made.

Key findings and themes identified included:

Customers value the simplicity of the process and the support provided by LINZ.

The main opportunities for improvement centred on clearer form guidance, streamlining the identity process, and improving process communications to create a smoother and more efficient customer experience.

From here our plan is to:

• Take a closer look at our forms, make them easier to find and clearer to understand what is required.
• Improve clarity by changing the wording in our forms and email responses.
• Include processes to ensure Regulatory, Privacy and Risk requirements are met.

Thank you to all those who took the time to complete the survey and share your experiences, thoughts and ideas.

Property rights requisition support survey establishes benchmark

When LINZ identifies an issue with a survey plan or property rights transaction, we may issue a requisition requesting further information, clarification, or corrections before the work can proceed. Earlier this year, we introduced a customer satisfaction survey to better understand customers' experiences of the requisition process.

Following two pilot surveys in May and June, we ran a third survey in September 2026 and have now established a benchmark to help us track customer experience over time.

Overall, 82% of respondents were satisfied with the support they received, while 79% found the information and guidance in their requisition notice helpful. One of the more encouraging findings was that 44% of respondents did not need to contact LINZ at all, suggesting the requisition notice provided enough information for them to resolve the issue independently. Where customers did contact us, feedback highlighted the value of proactive and helpful support from our staff.

Using results from the May, June and September surveys, we have established the following benchmarks:

• Overall satisfaction: 4.21 out of 5
• Ease of interaction: 4.07 out of 5
• Requisition notice: 4.03 out of 5

Following the successful pilot programme, we plan to run the property rights requisition satisfaction survey twice a year, likely around April and October. This will help us monitor customer experience, measure the impact of improvements we are making, and identify opportunities to make the requisition process easier for customers.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the surveys and shared their feedback. It is helping us better understand what works well and where we can improve.

Removing Landonline privileges for former users

If someone has left your organisation but is still associated with your Landonline account because they have pending transactions, you may not be able to remove them from the account straight away. As a System Manager, you can protect your organisation by removing that person’s privileges so they can no longer carry out actions for your firm.

In Landonline, open Account Management, select the user and remove their assigned privileges. Check both the user’s individual privileges and any privileges provided through groups. Their outstanding work will still need to be completed or reassigned before the user can be removed from the account.

Find out how:
Update user privileges

Not receiving Landonline system emails? Check your email server security settings

Landonline has recently found an issue with emails, including Notices and Web Search orders, bouncing back from customers' email servers that do not have HTTPS (HTTP Secure) enabled.

We have introduced stronger encryption for outgoing Landonline emails as part of an ongoing security uplift. This helps prevent messages from being intercepted or altered in transit.

Some emails are being rejected by customers' email servers that do not support the required secure connection. Most major email providers already support this long-established security standard.

If your organisation isn’t receiving expected Landonline correspondence, such as Notices or Web Search orders, please ask your IT team or email provider to check that your receiving email server supports encrypted email delivery. Updating your email server configuration will help ensure you continue to receive Landonline emails.

New Landonline instruments for Public Works Act

The Public Works Amendment Act 2026 (the Act) came into force on 23 October 2026. The Act makes several changes to the Public Works Act 1981 (PWA), and you can read a summary of those changes here:

Summary of changes in the Public Works Amendment Act

We have created 2 new instrument types to reflect changes to section 18 of the PWA:

• N18 - Notice under s18 Public Works Act 1981
• WN18 - Removal of Notice under s18 Public Works Act 1981

Previously, section 18 provided for a notice of desire to be registered on the title for land that was required for a public work. The new section 18 requires the Minister or local authority to invite the owner to sell the land to the Crown or local authority and to lodge a notice of the invitation to sell with the Registrar-General of Land, who must note it on the title.

The Act also inserts transitional provisions into Schedule 1AA of the PWA. New clause 12 deals with the application of amendments to existing processes, providing that where a notice of desire has been served before commencement but no notice of intention, the amended Act applies, but if a notice of intention has been served before commencement then the unamended Act applies.

Notice of trusts in mortgages

The Land Transfer Act 2017 (the Act) prohibits notice of trusts in registered instruments as provided in s153 of the Act. We have encountered a number of cases where mortgages have been presented for registration with references to ‘Security Trusts’ and other trust arrangements. Instruments that provide notice of trust arrangements in this manner contravene s153 of the Act and may be requisitioned or rejected accordingly.

LINZ has been engaging with lawyers involved in these mortgage arrangements on how they can modify their mortgage documentation to avoid these problems. We have also published guidance on these matters:

Security trusts mortgages

Web Search Release - Search survey by alternate survey number

Landonline users can now search for surveys in Web Search using an alternate survey number.

You can enter a survey number or alternate survey number in the Search survey by survey number field in Web Search.

Any survey plans with a matching survey number or alternate survey number will appear in the list. Where a record has an alternate survey number, the current record is displayed first with the alternate survey numbers in brackets.

For information about what’s new in Web Search, see:
What's new in Web Search

New guidance on section 23 Public Works Act plans

Guidance is now available on preparing plans to support notices of intention to take land under section 23 of the Public Works Act 1981 (PWA).

Recent amendments to the PWA have changed the requirements for plans supporting the compulsory taking of land. Generally, separate plans are now required for the section 23 notice of intention stage and the section 26 proclamation stage.

At the section 23 stage, a new type of plan is used, referred to as a s23 PWA plan in the guidance. It is not a cadastral survey dataset, as was previously required. Instead, it primarily contains an aerial photo plan and area schedule. It must be certified by a licensed cadastral surveyor and submitted to LINZ through Landonline for approval and recording.

At the section 26 stage, a cadastral survey dataset prepared under the Cadastral Survey Rules 2021 continues to be required.

The guidance explains the new requirements and provides information on preparing and lodging a s23 PWA plan. It also includes a sample plan and Landonline capture guidance.

Read the full guidance:
Plans supporting a notice of intention to take land under section 23 of the Public Works Act 1981

The following Cadastral Survey Guidelines have also been updated to reflect the PWA amendments:

• Legalisation CSDs – Land to be compulsorily acquired under the Public Works Act 1981
• Unit plans – Public Works Act 1981