Waikato Land Surveying Services:
Updating Cross Lease Plans
Cross lease titles are vulnerable to becoming defective when buildings are added or extended on the land.
Cross leases typically apply to a large parcel of land on which there is more than one dwelling. The large property is divided with houses, fences and gardens into smaller properties.
Each of the cross lease owners own a share in the whole of the large parcel of land and a right to lease a particular part of the whole. Owners do not own the land under their dwelling outright – they share ownership with the other owners, and they have the right to build/occupy/own the dwelling because of their lease of the part of the whole property.
It is the leased part that can become problematic. The leased areas are typically defined by the buildings that were originally constructed. These are surveyed and shown on a “flats plan”. Later building work outside of the original footprint (including separate buildings) is likely to be a breach of the lease – the building has been constructed in an area the owner has no legal right to construct a building.
One solution is to resurvey the buildings and register a new lease that covers all the buildings.
Rad Surveying can prepare the new cross lease plan. A solicitor attends to surrendering the old lease and registering the new lease – the lease documents must be signed by all the owners.
Another possible solution is to convert the cross lease titles to fee simple titles. This is a subdivision and must follow the subdivision process – it must also be authorised by all the owners. Converting the titles to fee simple removes the risk of the cross lease titles ever becoming defective again (the leases are eliminated). Rad Surveying can coordinate the entire subdivision process.
