Change is on the horizon for overseas property investment regulations as the second and final stage of the review of the Overseas Investment Act 2005 gets underway.
A unit title is a form of property ownership where you own your unit, but the common areas are owned by the body corporate. This ownership structure is common in high-rise apartment blocks.
Generally speaking, GST on a property sale and purchase between two GST-registered entities results in a ‘GST neutral’ position for both the seller and the buyer. It’s essential that the sale and purchase agreement contains the correct wording, particulars and information in respect of the GST position of the parties to the agreement.
After 25-odd years, I’ve lost count of the cases I’ve seen where people would wager a vital organ they haven’t put a single legal foot wrong. In reality, they’re marinating in wrongdoing, risk and liability.
New Zealanders love to talk about property. There are a multitude of topics relating to property that Kiwis have an intimate knowledge and understanding about which form the topic of water cooler and dinner conversation. The cross lease is just one of those many topics of conversation.
Most laws tend to have initial bedding-in challenges. In the case of the new foreign buyer legislation, it’s the failure by would-be buyers to complete a crucial new form – an oversight so significant, it’s already derailing sales and causing financial grief.
Anyone looking to buy land in New Zealand who is classified as an “overseas person” will need to sign on the dotted line before next Monday (October 22) or, otherwise, be subject to the new foreign buyer rules.
