Surveying
Our Licensed Cadastral Surveyors can carry out:
Site Survey (Topographical)
The basis of a good design is accurate information. We can collect all the necessary information for a site survey, including position of buildings, trees, drainage, road and driveways, special features and contours and levels across your property. We can then provide that information either in digital (CAD) format or paper copy to your architectural designer, or use it to design a Subdivision concept and the associated full engineering plans to service the development.
Urban Subdivision
- Freehold (Fee Simple)
- Cross Lease
- Unit Title
What is the best subdivision option for your property?
Freehold Subdivision – another name is Fee Simple Subdivision.
This is the most common type of subdivision. The end result is a separate Certificate of Title for each Lot developed. The land is solely owned by those named on the Certificate of Title.
Cross Lease Subdivision
This type of subdivision used to be common place. The total area of land is owned in equal shares by the owners of each part of the cross lease. The individual owners own the buildings on the share of land that their building sits on. These buildings are registered on the Certificate of Title, and the plan is called a Flats plan. It is an inferior form of ownership compared with Freehold as there is always another landowner whose permission must be obtained to allow for any changes to the Certificates of Title. However it is still a common form of ownership and we can amend cross lease Certificates of Title as required i.e. if buildings are altered or additional buildings are built.
Unit Title Subdivision
This form of subdivision is useful mainly when dealing with properties that are joined together in some way. It might be an apartment block with individually owned units or a commercial block of buildings where the owners share common land. In each case a Body Corporate (owners committee) is set up to administer the property and all common matters are paid for in a yearly levy, set by the Body Corporate. Quite often a company will be employed by the Body Corporate to administer the levy and keep all property owners informed.
Rural Subdivision
Just like in an urban environment where landowners might decide to downsize their piece of land, larger rural blocks can be subdivided as well, and individual certificates of title for the smaller blocks obtained. We can help you decide the best way to maximise your subdivision in terms of the Local Council’s rules.
Monumentation Survey or Boundary Reinstatement Survey and preparation of Cadastral survey datasets (CSD) to enter into the LINZ database on Landonline
This surveying task is controlled by the Cadastral Survey Act 2002 and must be carried out in terms of the 2010 Rules, published under that Act.
There are two possible processes, depending on the availability of original survey marks which could be found. Our responsibility under these Rules is to locate the original marks and as required re-mark boundaries in the exact same position as the original survey.
At the start of a survey we expect to be able to locate survey marks within the road, but depending on the age of the original survey we cannot be too sure whether the original boundary marks will have remained.
The trigger between the two options, is replacing boundary marks based on whether or not the original survey control marks can be found. The Monumentation survey option can be used when one or more old survey marks, which appear on that old survey plan, are also found; failing this the Boundary Reinstatement option must be used.
The difference between these two options is the amount of documentation LINZ (Land Information NZ) requires us to provide. It is likely that the field survey will also take longer for a reinstatement survey and preparation of the CSD will take longer as we try to find marks further from the property.
Removal of Limitations
What do the words “Limited as to Parcels” mean on your Computer Freehold Register (Certificate of Title)? These words mean that your boundaries have never been defined by survey. Your title was produced prior to 1924 and boundary marks were never put in the ground. The status of this title can be improved to “Guaranteed” by resurveying the definition of surrounding boundaries, placing new boundary pegs and submitting a new Cadastral Survey Dataset (CSD) to LINZ for approval. Once approved by LINZ, notices will be sent to all adjoining landowners (Sec 167A), advising them of the resurvey and their rights to provide their own survey information if they believe that they have a stronger claim to part of the land. This notification process usually takes a further one month. Following this notification process, a new Computer Freehold Register (Certificate of Title) can be applied for, and this new title will have a guaranteed area registered on the LINZ government database.
Land Online
The traditional paper survey plans could be lodged with LINZ until 1 September 2007. After that date all survey plans had to be lodged by electronic lodgement. E-survey has allowed us to digitally prepare and lodge cadastral surveys directly from our desktop computer.
The electronic transfer process starts in our office with the ability to search on line all title and survey data through Landonline. The Surveyor can digitally prepare and lodge cadastral surveys directly with LINZ. Using LandXML enabled survey software, surveys can be created without the need to re-key data into the Landonline capture screens. Then in Landonline, the Surveyor can finalise and validate the e-survey before lodging it with LINZ.
Local Council’s have also made the change to certifying Cadastral Survey data online.
Landonline has enabled LINZ to provide better customer service and more accurate and up-to-date information. Searching of data has been made easier, with real time updating of the survey record, Surveyors now have access to the latest records. The Lodgement process has simplified and the time taken to approve the data has been considerably reduced.