Frequently Asked Questions

A cross lease or unit title is an existing use under s10 of the Resource Management Act 1991 and as such has a protected status so new rules in a district plan do not apply. A conversion to a fee simple freehold title has no physical change and therefore no effect on the environment so theoretically does not require a resource consent however it is still a subdivision of land which requires a ‘light touch’ subdivision consent. Because of its protected status, Council cannot require any new works including repair or upgrading to private drainage, services, driveways, or intertenancy fire walls if the development is lawfully established by building permit or consent.

Fee simple or freehold ownership is the highest-quality title type and true exclusive ownership and possession of the land and buildings on it.

A composite title with a shared fee simple interest and leasehold interest on one title and an undivided share expressed as a fraction of the land and described in the attached flats plan diagram.

Unit title owners own a defined part of a building, such as an apartment, and share common areas such as lifts, lobbies or driveways with other owners and described in the unit plan and are administered by a body corporate made up of selected unit owners.

‘Fee simple’ is the correct definition of the estate under the Torrens system for the new title. Freehold often describes a property with no debt.

A flats plan must describe the exact outline of the dwellings on it. If any alteration has been made to this outline shape, the cross-lease titles are defective and require remedy by re-measuring the flats, re-drafting the flats plan, obtaining council consent for the changes and re-issuing new titles, a process like the conversion process however the changes to the flat must be lawful or the titles cannot be rectified.

There are no additional costs for delivery of your new fee simple titles assuming the cross lease is lawfully established by building consent or permit and not in a flood plain.

All owners must consent to and participate in the conversion process.

Most of our conversions take five to six months depending on council. It is possible to accelerate the conversion process if a property is to be sold.

Talk to us about our accelerated conversion process allowing cross lease properties to be market ready for sale in 4 to 5 weeks. The cross-lease property can be sold subject to the new fee simple title issuing. The property should not be marketed before the subdivision plan is finalised and preferably with subdivision consent both included in the sale agreement. The advantage is the property can be marketed as a ‘freehold or fee simple’ estate.

Our fees are payable in equal monthly progress claims over the conversion duration, the first being a deposit before work commences. We are flexible with payment so talk to us about a payment plan that works for you.

All our team are based in Auckland and cover all of New Zealand.

A cross-lease title shows each registered owner has a ½ share in the ‘underlying’ fee simple estate, however this is a hypothetical share applicable only on expiry of the 999-year lease term when the flats are non-existent, in the meantime, each co-tenant has use of an exclusive area and shared use of common area. We never see a 50/50 area allocation after subdivision and often the new lot areas are significantly different.

Council cannot lawfully require any new or repairs or upgrading to private drainage or services or separation of them assuming the development is lawfully established by building permit or consent.

Each new lot requires access to wastewater, stormwater, power, water and a telecoms connection or access to those services protected by a legal mechanism (an easement). The aim is to configure easements to protect services. To demonstrate the new lots are serviced we sometimes provide utility invoices to council.

No upgrading is required to the driveway.

We exactly follow the covenant (cross lease) boundaries defined on the flats plan by position, fence line or physical feature and convert these into legal boundaries defined by bearing and distance. We would only change this method if requested by the parties or there was an obvious reason for doing so.

An easement provides a legal right for services to travel through or access over a neighbouring lot. They are always defined by an outline shape and denoted as a letter such as “A”. The easements are clearly defined on the Subdivision (or Scheme) Plan in the table of Memorandum of Easements where each is described, and the underlying land identified as “burdened” or “benefited”.

This is prepared by our contractor with a small push camera which logs drainage pipe positions marked by blue (stormwater) and red (wastewater) paint spots on the ground. Our survey team picks up these spots when we do the topographical features survey, and the information is used to accurately determine the extent of the drainage easements.

No and in Auckland the conversion is a subdivision consent application for a ‘controlled’ activity. Council must give consent for a controlled activity.

There are four ways: firstly, all the common area is attached to the rear lot with access over it granted to the front lot, secondly the area is halved with reciprocal access rights, thirdly all the area is attached to the front lot with access granted to the rear lot, and lastly, we create a jointly owned access lot (JOAL) owned in equal shares by the lots. We try and use the common area to make the division of the property as fair as possible.

Both the conversion to fee simple and remedying a defective flats plan (and cross lease title) have the same subdivision consent process through council however the conversion must include an analysis of services for each new lot. The flats plan remedy process takes the same time frame and costs about 2/3 of a conversion and is no longer a viable solution.

We recommend neighbours pay half each of the cost unless one party benefits more or has created the defective title, in which case, we recommend an uneven contribution. In most of our conversions, clients pay an equal share of the cost and in the remaining, one party pays all the cost.

No. In all our conversions our lawyers undertake all legal and conveyancing services for both parties after signing individual legal waivers.

Yes. The legal and conveyancing services for the delivery of the new fee simple titles are included in our fixed fee.

Yes. There is general acceptance by the banking industry that a fee simple title is a superior security and more valuable than a cross lease title therefore a bank’s security is improved, and consent is normally granted.

Under our New Zealand AML legislation, a lawyer or land conveyancer is required to identify any new client by photo ID and proof of address.

Our services location contractor is first on site followed by the drainage cctv contractor followed by our survey team for a half day, sometimes our engineer visits, and later our survey team for a further day. All need access to the exterior of the properties unless there is an intertenancy fire wall which may require internal measurement.

Yes. As part of the conversion, we surrender any instrument that relates to the cross lease creating a ‘clean’ title. Other instruments must remain for example mortgages and existing covenants or interests.

A type of ‘access’ easement. The owner of the ROW easement has a right to pass over the underlying land in perpetuity.