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• What's New?

  The 1972 Unit Titles Act which has governed Unit Titles until recently was substantially amended by the passing of an updated Unit Titles Act 2010. This new Unit Titles Act came into force on the 20th of June 2011 and makes significant changes to Unit Titles practice.

  Some of the significant changes are summarised below:

  • The persons who may now sue or be sued in respect of a UTA dispute are: the owner of a principal unit or a former owner of a principal unit, a future development unit owner, an occupier of a future development unit, a body corporate, an administrator, a registered valuer, an occupier of a principal unit, a service contractor, a prospective buyer of a principal unit, an original owner, a lessor of base land, the chief executive.
  • The forum for most disputes is the Tenancy Tribunal and has a maximum money limit of $50,000. This is a compulsory forum; clients must use it and are unable to opt for the Disputes Tribunal or District Court.
  • Overseas owners must appoint an agent in New Zealand congruent with a similar provision in the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010.
  • There are significantly enhanced disclosure requirements for buyers and sellers of unit title properties, and also for the developers of units. The disclosure requirements involves a pre-contract disclosure document, a pre-settlement disclosure document and an additional disclosure document.

• Two significant changes that specifically impact bodies corporate are:

  • The forum for resolving disputes is the Tenancy Tribunal. This is a compulsory jurisdiction. This means that parties to a unit title dispute must use the Tenancy Tribunal to resolve the issues.
  • The amendments made to the Residential Tenancies Act which came into force on the 1st October 2010 increased the threshold for lawyers to represent parties in the Tenancy Tribunal to $6000.00

  This means that from the 20th of June 2011 Bodies Corporate which formerly employed solicitors to recover unpaid levies will no longer be able to do so. Most levies are significantly less than $6000.00 meaning lawyers will be unable to represent clients to obtain the appropriate money orders in the Tenancy Tribunal.

  Bodies corporate or their professional body corporate secretary / agent will have to conduct actions in the Tenancy Tribunal to obtain money orders for unpaid levies. They will need to do this themselves or appoint an agent under section 171(3) of the new Act.

  Bodies Corporate or their professional secretaries / agent may find suing unit title holders an unpleasant prospect because of the inherent conflict of interest involved. It may prove attractive to appoint an agent to do this work

  Unit Title Dispute Resolution limited is a company engaged in conducting actions, as agent for the nominated party, to obtain enforceable money orders against unit title holders who have failed to pay their levy. Unit Title Dispute Resolution limited has an associated debt collection arm (Money Order Collections Limited) and can ensure that the unit title holder will be compelled to pay the levy together will all associated collection costs.

Copyright Unit Title Dispute Resolution Ltd 2011