On 20 June 2011 the Unit Titles Act 2010 and the Unit Titles Regulations 2011 came into effect. The most widely understood form of a unit title is an apartment consisting of ownership of part of a building together with a share in the common property. Unit titles are used for retail and commercial properties, as well as hotels and apartment blocks, and are also commonly used in smaller two, three and four unit developments.
The new legislation has brought many changes to the unit titles regime, some of which are outlined below.

  Read more…

It is common knowledge that the government is to abolish gift duty from 1 October 2011. The legislation will be amended to record that no gift duty is payable under the Estate & Gift Duties Act 1968 in relation to a gift made on or after 1 October 2011.  However, before you engage in a frenzy of gifting in October, there are a number of factors which you should take into account.
Read more…

Whether you're in the country or in town, dealing with your boundary fences can become an aggravating issue with your neighbours. This article looks at what the law says, and also how it can be applied to some specific fencing issues.
Read more…

When parenting disputes result in a court application there is clearly a problem that parents cannot resolve themselves and the Family Court is asked to settle the dispute. Often these cases can take months or years to resolve mostly due to the shortage of court hearing times. There is now another way, however, and Family Court lawyers are seeing good results for families from counsel-led mediations.
Read more…

Owners of forestry land need to be aware of decisions they should make this year under the Climate Change Response Act 2002. The Act was created to enable New Zealand to meet its international obligations to reduce carbon emissions.
Read more…

In the current economic climate there are, unfortunately, increasingly more tenants unable to pay the rent on their leased commercial premises or who are breaching some other covenant under their lease. This article outlines how a landlord can cancel a lease in the event of default by the tenant and how landlords can best protect themselves from being left out of pocket.
Read more…