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Probate, wills, estate administration, reseal grants, transmission to executors

Transfer (of land or house) to beneficiaries (heirs) of estate

You need this… 

…to transfer the house (or land) to whoever is intended to own it, now that you have finished the rest of the administration of your loved one’s estate. 

That will be to the ‘beneficiaries’ under the will, or under the rules of intestacy (when there is no will), or perhaps under a deed of family arrangement if something different has been agreed to.

You need a transfer even if the beneficiaries are the same people as the executors/administrators.

You cannot register a transfer unless you have already registered a transmission to executors/administrators.  (Exception: if the deceased was Maori and you apply to the Maori Land Court for an order under Te Ture Whenua Maori Act s111. The Maori Land Court can deal with general land as well as Maori land. It can vest the land in the administrator/executor or direct to the persons entitled to succeed under the will or intestacy. More info here.)

If you are selling the house, you do NOT need a transfer at this stage. You only need a transmission to executors/administrators. Then you need to use a different solicitor (not Kiwilaw) for the sale.

The transfer process requires information from you about:

  • the executors/administrators who are the current registered owners as executors/administrators
  • each recipient (transferee) – including IRD number, and citizenship/residency status, and whether any of their immediate family are NZ citizens or hold NZ visas (because this information must be provided for tax monitoring and for statistical analysis about property ownership patterns)
  • the land (whether there is a dwelling on it, and whether the previous owner has been residing in it, and whether the intended owner will be residing in it)

If the land is being transferred under some agreed variation to the will or to the rules of intestacy – such as one beneficiary is buying the property from the others, or some other adjustment – the executor/administrator/s will first need to obtain an IRD number for the estate if they have not already done so.

We will ask you the relevant questions if you decide to go ahead.

Have all the houses/land already been put into the name of the executor/administrator/s?(required)

How we can help 

We can prepare the required documents for you – you sign them (with identification and an authorised witness), send them back to us, and we register them online with Land Information New Zealand

Our fee: $380 (for 1 title, 1 or 2 parties (executors/administrators/recipients))

INCLUDES initial title search, LINZ registration fee ($90), final title search after registration, notice of change of ownership (to local councils),  and GST, as well as our legal work.   

Additional titles $40 each

Additional parties $60 each.  (If the same person is executor and recipient, that counts as 1 party.)

 

Kiwilaw makes it easy…

  • If you have not previously used our services, please use the short contact form above, to provide your contact information, the address of the property, and the name of the deceased owner. If you are able to answer the other two questions as well, that’s a bonus.
  • If you already have a copy of the title, that helps, but you do not need to get one if you do not already have one. (We can do that after we receive the enquiry form. There is no difference to our fee.)
  • Once it is clear that a transfer is indeed appropriate at this stage, we will need more information from (a) the transferor/s (executor/administrator/s) and (b) the transferee/s (beneficiaries under the will or under the rules of intestacy when there is no will, or under some other agreement that varies the will or the rules of intestacy). We will send you links to those forms. If you complete them in full and sign them online, we will not need to ask you to sign hard copies.
  • If you have already used our services for the transmission to executors/administrator/s, you can provide the information we need here – from each transferor and from each transferee.
  • We don’t require payment at this stage – we invoice you after we have prepared the documents (ready to email to you)
  • We will send some documents that will need to be printed and signed with an authorised witness. We will explain that when we send the documents.

After you send us the rest of the information we need…

 

Kiwilaw’s job:

  • check the title
  • prepare the edealing on Land Information New Zealand’s ‘Landonline’ system
  • prepare the documents everyone needs to get signed and witnessed
  • email them to you with instructions
  • invoice you

Your job:

  • help arrange for the recipients to sign the documents, including the A&I form which requires an authorised witness
  • sign your own documents
  • have everyone’s identity confirmed in person by an authorised witness when they sign the A&I form/s
  • pay our invoice
  • send the signed documents back to us.

Then Kiwilaw finishes the process – we:

  • register the transfer online with Land Information New Zealand – usually within 2 working days after we receive the documents from everyone
  • send you a copy of the new record of title
  • send a notice of change of ownership to the local and regional councils, for rates purposes (this is a compulsory legal requirement).

 

Updated 15 June 2023

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