Property Law
We work and are experienced in all aspects of property law, providing professional guidance to help you achieve the results you want.
Property law is concerned with property transactions, including buying and selling a home, a rental property or a building for your business.
It also covers mortgages, interests such as a right of way, boundary adjustments and subdivisions.
Residential Land Transactions
Property law is concerned with property transactions, including buying and selling a home, a rental property or a building for your business.
This work includes obvious things like checking the title. There can also be critical advice if, for example, the vendor does not have the house fit for sale at settlement or a builder’s inspection identifies unconsented building work. These issues arise regularly. You will need to know your legal rights, but it is often more important for us to discuss how to manage these problems.
Our team with long experience in Nelson can guide you to expert advice, whether it is a building issue, or you need to know about the maintenance on a shared driveway.
If you are buying or selling a residential property, we can draft the agreement for you, or a real estate agent will do that. In most cases, the agreement gives the purchaser time to make inquiries, so they are satisfied the property is what they expect. In this phase, when acting for a vendor, we keep in close touch as the buyer may ask for more time or have important questions. Other offers may be available, and you need to know your options. For purchasers, we work with you to ensure you get the information you need about the property and any finance.
We take pride in ensuring your settlement is completed; we know who to contact and what to do.
When the agreement is “unconditional”, the parties have committed to the deal, and it is proceeding to a settlement. At that time, we need to get the documentation for the transfer, a new mortgage, discharge a vendor’s old mortgage and have all the documents to transfer the land and the like signed.
The most intense part of the process for us is often the settlement when the money is paid, the land transferred, and the mortgage registered. Things do go wrong. Purchasers need to get the money from selling their existing property, their settlement may be delayed. Banks may not have documents ready if there has been a late change. Furniture trucks may be waiting to move your household to your new home. We take pride in ensuring your settlement is completed; we know who to contact and what to do.
Financing
We are not mortgage brokers, but we have an essential role in your financing. Our job is to ensure you have the information you need to understand the terms the bank offers and the critical terms in the documents.
Finance for many purchasers is critical; you need to know whether you have finance approved down to the date you must settle. We also guide you through the process of accessing KiwiSaver, first home grants, and all the other aspects of having the money you need for your purchase. The risk of insufficient finance or misunderstanding of what a banker may have said can be catastrophic, especially in our present environment of large deposits and strict lending requirements.
We also work with nonbank lenders for you, if that is an option.
Getting finance right is our absolute priority for our clients who need it to make their purchases happen; we know how important it is for you.
Agreements
All registered land transactions must have a base document. Most often, a sale and purchase agreement, but there are others. Examples include property sharing agreements, tenancy arrangements, leases, personal loans, easements (allowing services to pass over land), covenants and many others that make transactions work.
We draft and review these documents when another party prepares them for you to sign. You need to know the effects and be sure they are fair and reasonable.
Subdivisions
Subdividing property requires specialist knowledge and expertise. Resource management, surveying, tax, and legal issues arise. We guide and advise you on the legal aspects and can refer you to experts such as planners and surveyors. We prepare and explain easements, covenants, encumbrances, boundary adjustments, ownership structures and more.
We know how important it is for you to understand, plan and achieve the results you expect when subdividing.
Linda has practised in Nelson since she trained with David Orchard, a highly respected lawyer. He practised in the areas of law that are now Linda’s fields of interest and specialisation.