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Biosecurity Act 1993

Administrative provisions - Administrative powers

129: Liens

You could also call this:

"A 'lien' is a special debt on your land that must be paid first, before other debts."

If you own land and a chief technical officer, principal officer, or management agency has costs to recover under section 128, these costs are a charge against your land. This charge is called the recovery charge and it is important. The recovery charge is more important than any other mortgages, charges, or debts you may have on your land, except in some special cases.

If your land already has another type of charge on it, created by a different law, then these charges are equal, unless the other law says that its charge should be less important than the recovery charge. You can find more information about this in section 128.

The law says that the recovery charge must be paid and it has a high priority, which means it must be paid before other debts, except in the cases mentioned.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM316348.

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Part 6Administrative provisions
Administrative powers

129Liens

  1. All costs recoverable by a chief technical officer, principal officer, or management agency under section 128 shall be a charge (in this section referred to as the recovery charge) against the land concerned; and—

  2. subject to paragraph (b), the recovery charge shall have priority over all existing or later mortgages, charges, and incumbrances over the land, however they may have been created (including mortgages, charges, and incumbrances in favour of the Crown):
    1. if the land is or becomes subject to some other charge (being a charge created by an enactment other than this section), the charges shall rank equally unless the enactment provides that the other charge is to be deferred to the recovery charge.

      Notes
      • Section 129: amended, on , by section 88 of the Biosecurity Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 89).