Glossary

AGREEMENT DATE

The date when the buyer and seller agree to the terms and conditions of the sale, including price, by signing the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

ANNUAL VALUE

Annual Value is another value that councils can use as a basis for levying rates. Annual Value is a calculation involving rental values. It is the greater value of either the estimated gross annual rental less 20% (or 10% if there are no buildings on the land) or 5% of the property’s Capital Value.

CAPITAL VALUE

This is the likely price a property would sell for at the time of the revaluation. Capital Value includes Land Value and Value of Improvements but does not include chattels, stock, plant or machinery which may be included in the sale of properties.

CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NUMBER

Land titles in New Zealand are a matter of public record, and are kept by Land Titles Office of Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). Not all properties have a Certificate of Title reference record available to display on our reports.

COMPARABLE SALES

These are the sales that are most comparable to the property searched on based on a number of criteria.

COVENANTS

These are certain restrictions on the property and the section, outlined on the Certificate of Title. Covenants are often put on properties, especially in new subdivisions, to ensure that any structures built on the land are in line with the quality of the properties in the area, they may also be used to restrict certain activities.

CONVEYANCING

This is the legal transfer of a property title from one owner to another. This is normally completed by a lawyer or solicitor.

CROSS LEASES

Cross-leased properties have multiple owners, whereby they have an undivided freehold share of the land and a leasehold interest in the improvements.

DATE OF SETTLEMENT

The date the full amount is paid in return for ownership of the property. Also referred to as the Possession Date.

EASEMENTS

Easements provide rights of use over the property to another party, and are outlined on the Certificate of Title. An easement can include such things as a right of way or drainage rights.

ESTATE

An estate is a type of interest or ownership of a piece of land e.g. fee simple, leasehold, stratum in freehold etc. A title can have more than one estate type.

FLOOR AREA

This denotes the total floor area of the principal structure(s) and is given in square metres (rounded to the nearest 10 square metres).

Where this is an attached garage (either under the house or within the main house structure) there will be a total floor area, which includes the area of both the property and the garage.

FREEHOLD

This is the most common ownership type and means you own the land and the buildings on the property with few restrictions/encumbrances.

GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST)

If GST was paid as part of the residential property sale, then this may be included in the net sale price. Net sale price is inclusive of GST but exclusive of chattels.

For sales of other types of properties GST is often removed from the Net sale price and recorded as Other.

GROSS SALE PRICE

This is the total sale price recorded for the property. It therefore includes chattels and other considerations. It also includes Goods & Services Tax (GST) if any. Gross sale price is shown in whole dollars only.

INSTRUMENT

An Instrument specifies details of a property transaction. These can include change of ownership, whether it’s through purchase or a transfer – leases, mortgages and easements etc. A brief summary of an Instrument will show on a Certificate of Title next to the instrument reference number.

INTERESTS

Interests against a property can be categorised into encumbrances (e.g. caveat, lease, easement) or titles instruments (e.g. land transfer documents, building line restriction).

LAND VALUE

This is the likely price the land would sell for at the time of the revaluation, and does not include buildings or other improvements.

LAND AREA

This is the aggregate area of the property, in hectares. Where no lot size is given it can be assumed that no specific area can be attributed to the property.

LEASEHOLD (TENURE)

This is where someone else owns the land that your property is on and the leaseholder buys the right to occupy it for a specific time period. With a leasehold ownership there are often restrictions on what you can do on the use of land.

MAORI LAND

Maori Land is defined in the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993. This is an indication of whether the property is on Maori owned land.

MESHBLOCK

A meshblock is the smallest geographical unit for which statistical data is collected and processed by Statistics New Zealand. It roughly includes the closest sixty or so properties to the selected property. Although geographically defined, they do vary in size.

NET SALE PRICE

The net sale price is for the land and buildings only, and does not include chattels or other considerations. The figure displayed is advised via the Notice of Sale, and is required by the Rating Act 1988. The Net Sale price includes Goods & Services Tax (GST) if it has been paid. See Goods & Services Tax). Net sale price is shown in whole dollars only.

OWNER (AS SHOWN ON THE CERTIFICATE OF TITLE)

This shows the names of the owner as registered on the Certificate of Title.

RATING VALUE DATE

This is the date at which Rating Values are assessed. Each Local Council has one Rating Value date applied to all its properties, often referred to as the revaluation date. If a new improvement or subdivision is done after this date, it will be assessed as at the revaluation date to maintain uniformity.

ROLL NUMBER

This forms part of a property’s Valuation Reference Number. For administrative reasons it is desirable that blocks of assessments be grouped together. These groupings are called rolls and each roll has a unique five-digit number.

SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT

This is the legally binding contract that is used when buying and selling a property.

SALE DATE

This is the date when agreement was reached on the sale and is generally accepted as being the date when an offer to purchase becomes unconditional.

Sale date should not be confused with the date when the property was offered for sale, possession given or settlement made. Sales are not registered on the database until transfer has actually taken place.

SALES GROUPS

Sales groups are a group of roll numbers that define a geographic area used for Rating Valuation purposes.

SITE

This is the floor area of the main level within the principle structure of the property and is given in square metres. It does not include any garaging, decking or subsequent levels.

SPECIAL VALUES

The Rating Valuation Act 1998 and the Rating Powers Act 1988 provide for the determination of special values for certain classes of property under given circumstances. Contact the local authority relevant to the property in question for details.

SUFFIX

This forms part of a property's Valuation Reference Number and consists of one or two alphabetic characters starting at "A" and running through as far as necessary towards "ZZ". The suffix is used primarily for extension records, which occurs when an assessment contains either a separate rating apportionment or separate valuations relating to cross-leased properties.

SURVEY NUMBER

The survey number is the second component that makes up a survey plan reference. This field is usually numerical only but there are a few instances where the survey number contains a letter after the main survey number, e.g. DP 999999A

TENDER

Tenders involve each potential buyer submitting their offer without knowing what everyone else if offering. The Vendor then gets to pick the one to accept.

TENURE

Tenure is essentially the type of property ownership.

TITLE NUMBER

See Certificate of Title.

TREES VALUE

The value of any trees is not included in any valuation under the Rating Valuation Act 1998 unless the trees are fruit trees, nut trees, vines, berryfruit bushes, or live hedges.

UNITS

This is the total number of independent units of use on a property and is generally indicative of the number of separate dwellings on the property.

Examples: A block of flats comprising five rental units would be listed at having five units of use. A farm property where a second house occupied independently of the farming operation would be listed as having two units of use.

VALUE OF IMPROVEMENTS

Value of improvements essentially means the added value, which is what the improvements give to the land at the date of valuation. Improvements are essentially buildings, other structures and landscaping.

It is determined by deducting the land value from the capital value. Improvements added or removed since the date of valuation may not be reflected in the figure displayed. The values shown are those as at the date of valuation.

VENDOR/PURCHASER

The vendor name is always given first and is separated from the buyer name by an oblique "/".

Vendor/purchaser names will not be displayed on sales records from 29/04/2003.