Land Information New Zealand (“LINZ”) controls the holding of certificates of title in respect of each piece of land in New Zealand. There are additional rights and privileges that may be registered in document form against any individual title and these must be cleared with LINZ when they confirm the terms and conditions allowable by the registered proprietors on such titles.

In many instances rights over the titles by other parties are either lodged by councils whose services are to be secured or adjoining owners who are entitled to rights in certain circumstances over the land.

These documents recording such additional rights are called encumbrances. One of the best-known encumbrances is the ‘right of way easement’.

A new offshoot is the ‘maintenance easement’. This option does not have a general range of terms and conditions, but grants more limited and focused specific rights that may be reasonably sought to enable adjoining properties to link more appropriately for both the adjoining registered owners.

An example of how this document might work is if two properties needed a structure between them, like a mirror to enable safe traffic flows. A very specific helpful maintenance easement is able to be locked in for the benefit of each piece of land.

Your lawyer can help frame these documents while checking their suitability.