Services | Property Lawyers & Conveyancing

Conveyancing at its best !

Buying ~ Selling ~  Re-financing ~ fee simple ~  cross-lease ~ leasehold ~  unit title ~ licence to occupy company share flats and share ownership ~ Licence to Occupy Retirement Village flats ~ joint ownership ~ tenants in common  

Whether you're a first home buyer or not, when you buy a home you want comprehensive yet easily understandable advice about the agreement itself, title to what you are buying, different forms of legal ownership and dealing with any lenders. If you are a first home buyer then you might have lots of questions and we can answer them all quickly and in plain language !

It is your project and you should feel confident at all stages of the process, even if you are a first home buyer. Our clients value this - whether they are buying, selling, refinancing or re-structuring property ownership. 

For a home or as an investment property do you:

• Paying off Home Insulation Debt in your Rates, and wanting to sell? It is extremely important that you follow any procedure you have already agreed to with a Regional Council when it comes to selling your house so that you can avoid having to repay your Home Insulation Loan debt. I can advise you on exactly what to do at the negotiation stage and before you sign a sales agreement so that the purchaser takes this debt over; this can save you thousands of dollars!
• Want to make an offer to purchase a property ? This could be a property offered for sale by a real estate agent or privately by the vendor directly, say over the internet ?  Contact us to obtain the legal description of the property to insert into the agreement and prepare or advise on an offer to purchase and any conditions you might need.  If you are a vendor we can prepare an offer to sell or advise you on any offer you receive.
• Need to urgently search the title to a property that you are considering making an offer to purchase ?  This could be because you want to submit a tender or be ready to bid at an auction and want to do your homework first.  If you have a conditional agreement to purchase, then we can fully search the title and report to you. Title reports cover the land plan and other documents involved and fully report on all these too, not just supply you with a copy of the title itself.
• If you want to buy, sell or refinance a fee simple, cross-leased, leasehold,  unit title property, shares in a flat owning company and licence to occupy or licence to occupy a Retirement Village Flat then let us help you efficiently and cost effectively.
• Want excellent and full legal advice in your purchase right through to sucessful registration of title to the property you are buyin plus deal with your bank.
• Need advice on accessing your Kiwisaver as a deposit on your first home ?  You may be eligible to apply for the Kiwisaver First Home Deposit Subsidy administered by Housing New Zealand Corporation.
• Have a pension or work savings superannuation scheme that you may be able to access to purchase your home ? 
• Need help interpreting a Land Information Memorandum or checking how unauthorised or non-compliant structures or works can affect your ownership of a property -both now and in the future.

Want to know more about conveyancing ? To make enquiries and have us contact you p lease fill in this form

  You may be able to add value to an existing property if you:  

• Alter the boundary
• Subdivide
• Alter some other aspect of the title
• Adjust an incorrect boundary line
• Correct an encroachment with a neighbouring property
• Sell off some of your land
• Convert Company Share to Unit Title or Cross Lease to Unit Title

We will work with your surveyor, the council, any neighbours and your bank to help smooth this process for you.

Do you need independent legal advice ?

There are times when it is vital that you obtain legal advice about whether or not to sign a document for your own peace of mind.  Often this is a legal or bank requirement.

We provide independent and unbiased advice if you are asked to sign any of these sorts of documents including:

• Bank guarantee of someone else’s debt.  This could be for your child or partner or for a company or trust that you have no interest in or control over.
• Relationship property agreement.  
• An Enduring Power of Attorney form you have been asked to sign in which you appoint an attorney to act for you.

Want to know more about how you can receive independent advice  ? To make enquiries and have us contact you p lease fill in this form

Do you need to make a relationship property agreement with your partner ?

You can sign an agreement to record what will stay separate property in the future. Separate property could be from a prior relationship,  or even an inheritance which could get inadvertently intermingled.   An agreement can also help to sucessfully settle property into a trust. 

You can make an agreement whether you are defacto, married or civil union partners, no matter how long you have been together.

Relationship property agreements are also important following separation to record the separation and sign off division of property so that you can move forward.  If you don't do this your former partner may later claim a share in your property.

Want to know more about Property Relationship Agreements   ? To make enquiries and have us contact you p lease fill in this form

Family Trusts

These have become very popular.  For many people family trusts are an excellent way to try to protect assets. 

Who can a Family Trust help to protect your assets from ?

• Claims against your assets while you are alive: 
• Without a  Property Sharing Agreement sometimes a claim can be made against your assets from a former partner
• Business creditors, though you must be solvent at the time of settlement and not aim to defeat any existing creditor;
• A number of Government subsidies and entitlements (such as the Long-term Residential Care)  are currently asset and income tested.  With comprehensive advice about what these test currently involve and an evaluation of your circumstances you may able to combine protecting your assets for other reasons through a trust yet still qualify for a subsidy or entitlement enjoyed by many other New Zealanders.
• Claims against your estate after you die.  This could be from a partner or former partner, certain classes of relative, creditors or even people you promised money to on your death in return for work.

Want to know more about family trusts   ? To make enquiries and have us contact you p lease fill in this form

  Powers of Attorney

How an Enduring Power of Attorney can help:

Sometimes a person becomes mentally incapable of managing their property and even themselves.  This can happen at any stage of life and while it often affects the elderly,  mental incapacity is sometimes the result of an accident or sudden illness.  Sometimes the mental incapacity is temporary and but other times longlasting or permanent. 

While you are well you can put in place a mechanism so that those you trust can manage your affairs while you cannot.  You can put in place lots of checks and balances when you appoint an attorney and you can place conditions on the scope of the powers your attorney can have.    This can be a safeguard not only for you but can lessen the burden on your attorney too.

For your property, you can restrict the power coming into effect only if you became mentally incapable. Alternately it can come into effect immediately is it made or on the happening of any event such as you being outside New Zealand.  Then if you later become mentally incapacitated, the Power stays in place.

How a Power of Attorney can differ from an Enduring one:

You can appoint an Attorney to manage your personal property on any terms other than you becoming mentally incapable.  This is particulary helpful for travel or if you are not ready to consider possible mental incapacity.

Companies can also appoint an Attorney.  This can be vital for a business to carry on its major business activities if a director is overseas, becomes ill or is away from the business for other reasons.  Remember, an attorney personally appointed by a director cannot act and is not the same as one appointed by the company.

Want to know more about any of these types of Power of Attorney ? To make enquiries and have us contact you p lease fill in this form

Wills

Do you need to make or update a will for when you die ?           

• Making a will makes it easier and less strssful for your family when you die as they  do not have to follow the statutory default formula of who you must leave your estate to, and even who is eligible to administer it.  When you make a will you can say exactly how you want to leave your personal property and can select the people you trust to administer your it. 
• In a will you can appoint a guardian, or an additional guardian for your child. 
• Sometime a trust is created under a will.  This often happens while a beneficiary is a minor.  It is particularly important that you provide for sucessful administration of your estate during these years by careful appointment of your trustees and any particular powers you want them to have.

Want to make a will ? To make enquiries and have us contact you p lease fill in this form

Estate Administration

Official administration of an estate is usually required when property over a prescribed amount is involved.  Curently that amount is $15,000.00.  Dealing with the Land or shares of a deceased,  Bank or insurance company all require Court approved authority where more than this sum is involved.  We can prepare applications for Probate of a will or Letters of Administration where the decased did not have a will.

We can assist the adminstrators to administer the deceased's estate in terms of the will or the statotory formula where no will existed and deal with all property involved.

Sometime a new trustee can take over from an existing trustee and we can prepare all the necessary documents for this to happen.  

If any of this sounds like you, then contact us today !