The Quays Body Corporate in Auckland (Body Corporate 198900) was recently before the High Court trying to get a declaration that the awnings erected by various bars that occupied the ground floor units should be removed at the cost of those owners. As the Court noted in its judgment dated 10 July 2015 “This issue…
DetailsIt is proposed to make the profits on sales of residential property taxable if sold within two years of acquisition, subject to certain limited exceptions. There will be no "purpose" or "intention test" to determine whether profits are taxable, as is presently the case. This is not law yet but it seems very likely it…
DetailsLeasing unit titles is more complex than other forms of leasing. The Unit Titles Act 2010 (UTA) and the body corporate operational rules will prevail over the lease. The landlord might only have a very small say in how that plays out. This depends on their individual voting power. There is another layer of rights…
DetailsIn the past proxies were commonly used in the unit title setting. Developers would provide for them in sale contracts. Property managers would include them in leases of serviced apartments. It gave the developers and the managers the opportunity to control decisions made by the body corporate. These provisions are now of little use given…
Details"It’s the death of common sense" he said leaning on my doorframe, frustration etched on his face. This was the third visit – trying to provide information to the bank suitable to meet anti-money laundering requirements; – so he could get online access to a bank account. Ronald* (*name changed for issues of privacy and…
DetailsChanges to the Building Act came into force on 1 January 2015. All builders who carry out residential work, whether demolition, new build or renovations, building a new fence or retaining wall (or doing any other "building work") need to ensure they are meeting these new requirements. Written contracts are now required for residential building…
DetailsThe Commerce Commission has long been the watchdog for consumers purchasing goods and services in New Zealand. Part of their role is to protect consumers from traders or sellers who engage in unfair or deceptive conduct. Historically this has involved monitoring activity such as collusion between firms and price fixing, which leads to a hike…
DetailsIn August last year the law relating to development contributions changed. They were aimed at making the regime easier to navigate and the costs easier to predict. A New Zealand Law Society seminar outlined the changes. Here are some pointers to take from the presentation: • the purpose of the development contributions is to enable…
DetailsWhat are the proposed changes? Changes are being mooted to retention arrangements. The Government has announced that a "deemed trust" arrangement is their proposed solution to protect subcontractors from circmustances like those that followed Mainzeal’s collapse. Retention funds won’t need to be held in a separate bank account though so whether the funds are truly…
DetailsControl Period and Turnover Disclosure The Unit Titles Act 2010 (UTA) treats a developer as being in control of a unit title development from the date the unit plan deposits until the date the developer (or its associates) owns or controls less than 75% of the votes in the body corporate. Associates are defined widely and include the developer’s agents, trustees or…
DetailsWhen a unit title development is created a valuer must assess the ownership interest for each unit, which is essentially the relative market value of that unit compared with all of the other units. It’s possible for the body corporate to also establish a separate utility interest for each unit. That utility interest is then used to…
DetailsControl Period and Turnover Disclosure The Unit Titles Act 2010 (UTA) treats a developer as being in control of a unit title development from the date the unit plan deposits until the date the developer or its associates owns or controls less than 75% of the votes in the body corporate. Associates are defined widely and include the developer’s agents, trustees or…
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