New Zealand’s survey and land registration systems have changed several times since 1840.
Our historical land records are held in 3 forms:
- Original paper records. These records are mostly held by Archives New Zealand. Paper records that are still needed for business use are held by Toitū Te Whenua. We also hold all records relating to the survey cadastre.
- Microfilm aperture cards. These cards are held by the 12 land registration districts. A full national set is held by Toitū Te Whenua in Wellington.
- Digital records. These records are in our Landonline land register. Many older records have been digitised. New records are all registered electronically.
Where to find historic land records
Toitū Te Whenua holds some historic records. Some records can be found online through our Land Record Search. However some may be too large or fragile to put online, so need to be viewed in one of our offices.
How to search for land records
View an original paper land record
Some historic field books are published on our Field Books website:
Most historic land records are held by Archives New Zealand:
Archives New Zealand Collections search
Māori land records are held by the Māori Land Court:
Find a list of land records and which organisations hold them:
Organisations that may help with land record search
Historic records relating to land ownership
Abstract and lodgement form
An abstract or lodgement form is a list of documents lodged against a particular title. Historically, land registration districts recorded lodgement in different ways. See also Journal.
View an abstract/lodgement sample
Crown grants
Crown grants are records of grants of Crown land to individuals, dating back to 1840. Crown grants are now held at Archives New Zealand.
Crown records
Crown records are the records of the purchase or disposal of land by the Crown, excluding the core title and survey records.
View our Crown property section
Deeds
Deeds were used to record most property ownership in New Zealand before the land titles system.
The significant record showing property ownership is the notation in a deeds register. See also Registers and indexes and Plans (deeds plans).
All deed registers and indexes are now held at Archives New Zealand.
Instruments
More recent land records include instruments: legal documents dealing with sale and ownership of land that are registered on the title.
The most common instruments are transfers, mortgages, discharges of mortgage, easements, covenants, leases, caveats and transmissions.
Journal
A journal is a list of documents lodged against a particular title at a particular office. Historically, land registration districts recorded lodgement in different ways. See also Abstract.
Provisional registers and qualified records of title
Provisional registers/qualified records of title are recorded interim titles issued for land held under the jurisdiction of the Māori Land Court.
The Land Transfer Act 2017 replaced the provisional register with qualified records of title. All land, estates, interests or other matters registered or noted on the provisional register before the introduction of the Land Transfer Act 2017 are treated as if a qualified record of title had been created.
Provisional registers for North Auckland, South Auckland and Taranaki have been digitised. These are available from Toitū Te Whenua.
Registers and indexes
Registers were used to record information such as the receipt of a document or plan. Different land districts used a range of registers, such as block registers, or cadastral record maps, field book registers, parish registers, plan registers, reserves registers, section registers, and survey district registers.
Indexes
Indexes provide cross-references between registers and other records. They can be in text or map form, and either paper-based or electronic.
Toitū Te Whenua’s primary index is Landonline, which replaced the Land Titles System and the Survey Data Index.
Other index types include deeds indexes, section indexes, tenure indexes, statutory action index, index to places and streets, and each title. Titles contain abstract or document numbers.
Warrants
Warrants are a title to Crown land issued by the Governor-General, without the need for a new title to be issued. These are now held at Archives New Zealand.
Records relating to surveys
Field book and notes
Field books and field notes are detailed records of field measurements made by surveyors. These include some of New Zealand’s earliest survey records.
Legalisation cards
These record statutory actions against parcels on survey plans.
Deed plans
Deeds plans support the deeds records by showing land areas that have been divided up by particular deeds.
Plans (SO, DP, ML)
Survey Office (SO), Deposited Plan (DP) and Māori Land (ML) are the plans deposited in sequence as legal representations of land in the title system.
Some of these plans, often the older ones, are filed as roll plans, and are held at Archives New Zealand.
Plan registers
Plan registers recorded all plans as they were lodged in a particular land registry. See also Registers and indexes.
Traverse record and sheet
Traverse records and sheets are surveyors’ technical records. They show how the survey was completed, with lists of survey mark names, vectors between marks, and coordinates of these marks.
About the word historic
In land records, the word historic can just mean that the records are old.
Historic also has technical uses. An historic record of title shows all records registered or noted since the title was first issued, whether these are current or not.
Historical instruments are instruments that are no longer current. The land records system makes a distinction between current and historic, even if the historical instrument was only registered last week.