You need this…
…if your loved one owned any land or house in New Zealand, either on their own or as a co-owner (except as a joint tenancy, or Maori freehold land) .
You need a grant of administration (probate or letters of administration) first. (Exception: if the Maori Land Court changes the status of the land to Maori freehold land. That can be done without a grant of administration, and then there can be a succession order. A beneficiary can apply for the status order without yet being on the title and without there being an administrator. In that case you don’t need a transmission either. The Maori Land Court can do it all.)
This transmission is required before the land can either be transferred to beneficiaries, or leased, or sold to a third party. It brings the land under the formal legal control of the 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 1993 s111. The Maori Land Court can deal with general land as well as Maori land. Without a transmission being registered, the Maori Land Court can vest the general land in the administrator/executor or direct to the persons entitled to succeed under the will or intestacy. The order made in the Maori Land Court is then noted on the main land register but there is no fee for doing that. There still must be a grant of probate or letters of administration first. See more info here.)
Later on, when the estate is ready to be wound up (finalised), there will be a ‘transfer’ – either to beneficiaries of the estate, or to a third party from a sale. (That transfer will be required even if the beneficiaries are the same people as the 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 1993 s111 – but this exception does not apply if you are doing anything different from what the will says or what the rules of intestacy say if there is no will.) More information about transfers here.
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.
‘Tenants in common’ means each co-owner’s specific share is shown.
If it’s joint tenants, you don’t need a grant of administration, and the surviving co-owner needs a ‘transmission by survivorship’ (not 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, and we register them online with Land Information New Zealand
Our standard fee: $400 (for 1 title, 1 or 2 executors/administrators)
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 executors/administrators $60 each.
Additional work – if there is a discrepancy between your loved one’s name on the land title and their name on probate or letters of administration, 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.)
Additional fees may apply also if other special work is required. You will be informed if this applies.
Kiwilaw makes it easy…
- Please use the short automated interview below, to provide information about the executors/administrators, and the address of the property.
- We will need to check a scanned copy of the grant of administration, including the will if any. 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 grant of administration
- 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