Through the Christmas period what “working days” means will depend upon what your contract or the relevant legislation says. As a general rule statutory holidays and weekends are not “working days”. Beware though, some contracts and legislation refer only to “days” (and weeks or months). When that happens those days where we are all celebrating the…
If you become tempted to purchase a bach over the Christmas period (as a certain partner of ours did one year) then an agreement on an envelope will certainly be legally enforceable if done properly. Debra bought her family bach by recording an agreement on an envelope that included adoption of the standard ADLS/REINZ terms…
At this time of year with Christmas trading and summer there may be lessors who are approached by lessees requesting a change to their trading hours. Leaving aside resource management restrictions, retail leases commonly give the lessor an unqualified right to approve any modification in trading hours. Further these retail leases tend to include a "keep open" covenant. …
The new Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act comes into force in March 2012. Under the new Act, insurers will need a licence from the Reserve Bank to continue in the insurance business. The licensing application involves satisfying the Reserve Bank that the insurer has the appropriate risk management, governance and capital necessary to continue in the…
In an auction you generally accept the vendor’s title, warts and all. In a recent contract I reviewed that meant there were obligations imposed on the purchaser to pay to have stormwater and sewerage systems inspected annually and covenants limiting what colour the house could be painted. There are all sorts of things that might be…
Have heard about law changes making it easier to chop down trees? Are you waiting for 1 January 2012 so you can fell a pesky tree without the need to apply for a resource consent? Not so fast. Case law earlier this year shows the changes to the legislation may not work quite how many…
The new gifting regime was ushered in on 1 October 2011. Does this mean no more annual gifting programme, no more acknowledgements of debt or deeds of forgiveness or gifting statements? Maybe, and then maybe not. Before gifting assets there are some things to consider. Take time to think about whether the gift remains a good…
There has been another case in relation to the ADLS standard lease clause, which provides the term of a lease shall at once terminate if there is destruction or damage rendering the premises untenantable. We wrote about an April 2011 decision of the Auckland High Court following a fire in Kingsland (see Destruction and leases). The latest decision was…
A number of property subdivisions completed within the last 2 or 3 years were originally pre-sold at levels well above market value at the time of settlement. This is no surprise to any of us who have lived through the GFC and its impact on the property and finance sector in New Zealand. As a…
The Government has recently released the proposed draft Financial Markets Conduct Bill (Bill). The Bill represents a comprehensive review of securities law. It will replace the existing Securities Act. The Bill removes the troublesome concept of “offer to the public”. Instead, unless an exemption applies, disclosure is required. Disclosure is made using a single product…
Earthquakes in Auckland are a rare occurrence, despite us having had one last month. What happened in Christchurch has got everyone thinking though, not least of all the lawmakers and there are new rules to be adhered to in relation to our buildings and whether they are strong enough. Auckland Council has just released its…
Agreements for sales off the plans will include sunset clauses – or "twilight" clauses as a client called them the other day. I like that new name it seems more accurate somehow. They will also be subject to s225 of the Resource Management Act. It is an interesting section, aimed at protecting the purchaser. First it gets…