You need this…
…if your loved one was a joint owner of any land or house in New Zealand. However, if each owner had separate shares specified on the title, their ownership was not ‘joint’, and this then does not apply.
This transmission is required to put the property into the sole name of the surviving owner.
It must be done before anything else can happen with the land.
If it is not done before the surviving owner dies, then their executor/administrator will have more paperwork and legal fees.
Property has two owners?
Don’t know whether house is ‘jointly’ owned? – Co-ownership can be as ‘joint tenants’ or as ‘tenants in common’.
It makes a difference.
A transmission by survivorship is possible only if the owners’ names are shown on the title without being given any specific share. That’s a ‘joint tenancy’.
‘Tenants in common’ are different. In an tenancy in common, each co-owner’s specific share is shown.
If it’s tenants in common, you cannot use a transmission by survivorship. There must first be a grant of administration. Then the title is put into the name of the executors/administrators, by a transmission to executors/administrators.
Before you start, we can check this and let you know, for just $29 (including the LINZ title search fee): request it here:
How we can help
We can prepare ‘transmission’ documents for you – you sign them (with identification and an authorised witness), send them back to us with a certified copy of the death certificate, and we register them online with Land Information New Zealand
Our fee: $400 (for 1 title, 1 surviving owner)
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 co-owners $60 each
Additional work – if there is a discrepancy between your loved one’s name on the land title and their name on the death certificate, OR if there is a discrepancy between your name on the land title and your name on your photo ID – $100-$600 depending on how complicated it is to sort out. (Sometimes it needs an additional paragraph and an additional exhibit or two. Sometimes it needs an application for correction of name, which involves an additional registration fee.)
Kiwilaw makes it easy…
- Please use the short automated interview below, to provide information about your loved one, the surviving owner, and the address of the property.
- We will need a scanned copy of the death certificate. You can upload that at the end of the interview.
- We will also ask for a copy of your photo ID, if we do not already hold it.
- 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 you complete the interview.)
- We don’t require payment at this stage – we invoice you after we have prepared the documents (ready to email to you)
After you complete the automated interview…
Kiwilaw’s job:
- check the title
- check your identity and connection with the property
- prepare the edealing on Land Information New Zealand’s ‘Landonline’ system
- prepare the documents you need to get signed and witnessed
- email them to you with instructions
- invoice you
Your job:
- add a certified copy of the death certificate
- make a statutory declaration
- sign the documents
- have your identity confirmed in person by an authorised witness
- pay our invoice
- send the (hard copy) signed documents back to us.
Then Kiwilaw finishes the process – we:
- register the transmission online with Land Information New Zealand – usually within 2 working days after we receive the documents from you
- 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 28 October 2022
