2 Interpretation

• In this Part of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

  Complete unit plan, in relation to a subdivision of land into units in stages, means a plan specifying all the units and the whole of the common property comprising the development in relation to a building or buildings already erected on the land

  Future development unit, in relation to a subdivision of land into units in stages, means a unit that is proposed to be developed or subdivided into one or more units (with or without common property) at a later stage of the development, and that is shown on a stage unit plan as a future development unit

  Proposed unit development plan, in relation to a subdivision of land into units in stages, means a plan specifying all the units and the whole of the common property proposed to comprise the development when it is completed

  Stage unit plan, in relation to a subdivision of land into units in stages, means a plan specifying each unit and each part of the common property (if any) that has so far been completed (to the extent necessary for the purposes of section 5(1)(g) of the principal Act) at the date of the deposit of the plan, the balance being specified as one or more future development units.

3 Subdivision of land into units in stages

• (1) Notwithstanding anything in Part 1 of the principal Act, every person who is entitled, by virtue of section 3(1) of the principal Act, to subdivide a parcel of land in accordance with the provisions of that Act may, in accordance with the succeeding provisions of this Part of this Act, effect that subdivision in 2 or more stages.

  (2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of section 3 of the principal Act, one such stage of a subdivision may make provision for only one principal unit; and it shall be sufficient compliance with that subsection if the relevant stage unit plan specifies one principal unit and one or more future development units, with or without any accessory units or common property.

4 How subdivision in stages effected

• The subdivision of land so as to provide for units in 2 or more stages shall be effected by the successive deposit under the Land Transfer Act 1952 of—

  • (a) A proposed unit development plan, which shall specify all the units, and the whole of the common property, proposed to comprise the development when it is completed:

  • (b) One or more stage unit plans, which shall specify each unit and each part of the common property (if any) that has so far been completed (to the extent necessary for the purposes of section 5(1)(g) of the principal Act) in relation to a building or buildings comprising part of the development and already erected on the land, and also specify the area or areas (each such area being designated on the plan as a future development unit) in which further development or subdivision and other work is still required to complete the development:

  • (c) A complete unit plan, which shall specify all the units and the whole of the common property comprising the development in relation to a building or buildings already erected on the land.

5 Proposed development plans

• (1) Every proposed unit development plan shall comply with the provisions of all regulations as to survey made under the Survey Act 1986.

  (2) The deposit of a proposed unit development plan shall not affect the estate or interest in the land owned by the registered proprietor depositing the plan or by any other person.

  (3) A proposed unit development plan may not be deposited unless—

  • (a) It is accompanied by a stage unit plan relating to the same development:

  • (b) It has been approved by the Chief Surveyor appointed for the land district constituted under the Land Act 1948 in which the relevant land is situated:

  • (c) [Repealed]

  (4) The provisions of section 5(2) of the principal Act shall apply in respect of the Chief Surveyor's approval of a proposed unit development plan as if the plan were a unit plan; and the provisions of section 5A(3) of that Act shall apply in respect of the principal administrative officer's certificate as if it were a certificate given in respect of a unit plan.

  (5) When a proposed unit development plan has been deposited, the proposed development shall not be altered in any way, unless a new proposed unit development plan has been deposited, incorporating the proposed changes, in accordance with the following provisions:

  • (a) Subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the consent of every proprietor of a unit (including a future development unit) shown on the latest stage unit plan deposited in respect of the development, and of every other person who has a registered interest in any such unit, and of every caveator claiming any interest in any such unit, shall be required to the deposit of a substituted proposed unit development plan:

  • (b) Where the unanimous consent of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection is not forthcoming but a majority of those persons are in favour of the deposit of a substituted proposed unit development plan, that plan may be deposited with the consent of the Court; and for the purposes of this paragraph section 58 of the principal Act shall apply with the necessary modifications:

  • (c) The provisions of subsections (1) to (4) of this section, except paragraph (a) of subsection (3), shall apply in respect of a substituted proposed unit development plan:

  • (d) The substituted proposed unit development plan shall be deposited under the same number as the original proposed unit development plan.

  Subsection 3(c) was repealed, as from 23 July 1993, by section 2 Unit Titles Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 74).

6 Deposit of unit plans under this Part

• (1) No stage unit plan and no complete unit plan shall be deposited pursuant to this Part of this Act unless the certificate given under section 5(1)(g) of the principal Act includes a statement by the chief executive of the territorial authority in whose district the land is situated that the plan is consistent with the relevant proposed unit development plan.

  (2) Every successive stage unit plan (except the first) and the complete unit plan relating to a development shall be deposited in substitution for, and under the same number as, the stage unit plan previously deposited in respect of that development.

  (3) For the purposes of paragraphs (c) and (d) of section 5A(1) of the principal Act it shall be sufficient if every building and every other part of the whole development shown on a stage unit plan complies with the local authority's bylaws and the requirements of the Resource Management Act 1991 as those bylaws and requirements applied at the time when the proposed unit development plan was deposited, notwithstanding that, because of subsequent changes to any such bylaws or requirements, any such building or other part of the development no longer complies with all such bylaws and requirements.

  Subsection (1) was amended, as from 1 July 2003, by section 262 Local Government Act 2002 (2002 No 84) by substituting the words “chief executive” for the words “principal administrative officer”. See sections 273 to 314 of that Act as to the savings and transitional provisions.

  Subsection (3) was amended, as from 23 July 1993, by section 3 Unit Titles Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 74) by substituting the words “Resource Management Act 1991” for the words “Town and Country Planning Act 1977”.

7 Unit entitlement

• (1) For the purpose of eventually determining the matters specified in section 6(3) of the principal Act, before the proposed unit development plan is deposited there shall be assigned to every principal unit and every accessory unit shown on the plan a unit entitlement, to be fixed by a registered valuer within the meaning of the Valuers Act 1948 (subject to payment to or the valuer of such fee as he may fix) on the basis of the relative prospective value of the unit in relation to each of the other proposed units on the proposed unit development plan.

  (2) On each stage unit plan, and on the complete unit plan, the unit entitlement to be assigned to each principal unit and each accessory unit for the purposes of section 6 of the principal Act shall be that shown on the proposed unit development plan in respect of that unit.

  (3) No unit entitlement shall be assigned to any future development unit.

  Subsection (1) was amended, as from 1 July 1998, by section 54(1) Ratings Valuations Act 1998 (1998 No 69) by omitting the words “the Valuer-General or” and the words “, as the case may be,”. See sections 55 to 63 for the savings and transitional provisions.

8 Future development units

• (1) The deposit of a stage unit plan shall have the effect of creating in each future development unit a stratum estate in freehold or a stratum estate in leasehold, as the case may be, which shall comprise—

  • (a) The fee simple estate or, as the case may be, the estate as lessee or licensee in the unit, which shall determine either—

    • (i) On the deposit of a unit plan that specifies as other than a future development unit that part of the land that formerly comprised the future development unit; or

    • (ii) On the cancellation of a stage unit plan, in accordance with sections 45 to 47 of the principal Act, on which the unit is shown as a future development unit:

  • (b) The undivided share in the fee simple estate or, as the case may be, the estate as lessee or licensee in all the units to which the proprietor of the unit is contingently entitled by virtue of section 9(6)(c)(i) of this Act.

  (2) Subsections (3) to (6) of section 4 of the principal Act, with any necessary modifications, shall apply to and in respect of a stratum estate in a future development unit as if the unit were a principal unit.

  (3) On the deposit of a stage unit plan, the Registrar may, at the request of the registered proprietor, issue a separate certificate of title for any future development unit.

  (4) Subsections (3) and (4) of section 8 of the principal Act shall apply to every certificate of title issued under this section.

  Subsection (1)(b) was amended, as from 13 January 1981, by section 2 Unit Titles Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 148) by inserting the words “or, as the case may be, the estate”.

9 Application of principal Act

• (1) Notwithstanding anything in section 12 of the principal Act, but subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, the registered proprietor for the time being of a stratum estate in a future development unit shall not, by virtue only of the fact that he is the registered proprietor of that estate, be a member of the relevant body corporate constituted by that section.

  (2) Notwithstanding anything in section 15 of the principal Act, the body corporate shall have no duties in respect of any future development unit comprising part of the development; nor shall the registered proprietor of the stratum estate in any such unit be required to contribute to any fund established by the body corporate pursuant to that section.

  (3) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) of this section or in the principal Act, the body corporate may enter into any agreement with the registered proprietor of a future development unit for the undertaking of any work or the expenditure of any money for the mutual benefit of the body corporate and that registered proprietor.

  (4) Notwithstanding anything in section 18 or section 19 or section 44 of the principal Act, no part of the common property may be dealt with, and no land may be added to the common property, and no unit or part of the common property may be redeveloped, without the consent of every registered proprietor of a future development unit included in the development.

  (5) In the case of a development to which Part 2 of the principal Act applies, every registered proprietor of a future development unit shall be deemed to be a member of the body corporate for the purposes of the provisions of that Part, and those provisions shall apply as if—

  • (a) The unit were a principal unit; and

  • (b) The unit entitlement of the unit were equivalent to the aggregate unit entitlement of all the units into which it is proposed eventually to subdivide the future development unit, as shown on the proposed development plan.

  (6) For the purposes of sections 45(1), 46(1), and 47(1) of the principal Act, every registered proprietor of a stratum estate in a future development unit comprising part of a development shall be deemed to be the registered proprietor of a principal unit comprising part of the development; but, in respect of the cancellation of a stage unit plan the following provisions shall apply:

  • (a) Before the plan is cancelled, the whole development (excluding every future development unit), and each future development unit, shall be separately valued by a registered valuer within the meaning of the Valuers Act 1948 (at the expense of the body corporate or, as the case may be, the registered proprietor of the future development unit):

  • (b) In the event of a dispute arising in respect of any valuation made for the purpose of paragraph (a) of this subsection, the matter shall be determined by arbitration under the Arbitration Act 1908, and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly:

  • (c) Upon cancellation of the plan, the fee simple estate, or (as the case may be) the estate as lessee or licensee in the whole of the land that was comprised in the development (including every future development unit), shall vest—

    • (i) As to one undivided share in each person who was the proprietor of a future development unit immediately before the cancellation of the plan; and

    • (ii) As to one undivided share in the persons who were the proprietors of the units (other than future development units) immediately before the cancellation of the plan,—

    such shares to be in the proportion that the value of the future development unit (as determined pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection) bears to the value of the balance of the development (as so determined):

  • (d) As between themselves, the persons who are entitled to one undivided share in the land by virtue of paragraph (c)(ii) of this subsection shall be so entitled in the same shares as, by virtue of section 9 of the principal Act, they were interested in the common property immediately before the cancellation of the plan.

  (7) Subject to the additions, exclusions, and modifications set out in this Part of this Act, the provisions of the principal Act shall apply in respect of—

  • (a) Subdivisions of land into units under this Part of this Act in the same manner as they apply to subdivisions of land into units under that Act; and

  • (b) Stage unit plans and complete unit plans deposited or to be deposited under this Part of this Act in the same manner as they apply to unit plans deposited or to be deposited under the principal Act.

  Subsection (6)(a) was amended, as from 1 July 1998, by section 54(1) Ratings Valuations Act 1998 (1998 No 69) by omitting the words “the Valuer-General or”. See sections 55 to 63 for the savings and transitional provisions.

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