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This is a question often overlooked when buying your home. It is, however, a common situation when two people are buying a property together. Let’s take an example to show how these both work.

Our team here at Aspiring Law is fielding a lot of queries about the latest changes to what’s known as the “bright-line test”, the property tax regime that came in in 2015.

It’s now nearly two years since significant changes to the Residential Tenancies Act came into force – so, it’s timely for landlords to double-check they are complying with the new laws, and are up with the play on what’s yet to come.

When it comes to legal developments, landlords have had their fair share of information to keep up with recently.

A recent High Court case (Mitchell v Zhang [2015] NZIT3208) clarified a vendor’s obligation to disclose information about land to a purchaser – and serves as a reminder of how critical timely due diligence and legal advice is when buying property.

Given my profession, it’s perhaps not surprising that, even when I’m away from the office, conversations and questions often turn to the laws of our land – or, more specifically, the laws of our neighbourhoods.

Leasing commercial premises has always brought complexities and considerations well above residential tenancy.

On the face of it, buying bare land might seem a far simpler task than purchasing a home. In reality, though, there are often just as many considerations and potential traps for the unwary. Buying a property tends to be an emotional experience for most of us, and even some of the fundamentals can get overlooked in the heat of the moment.