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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Public Works Act 1981

Acquisition of land for public works - Acquisition by agreement

19: Compensation certificate may be registered to protect agreement

You could also call this:

“Special record shows agreement about your land”

When you make an agreement with the Minister or a local authority about your land, they can create a special document called a compensation certificate. This certificate tells people about the agreement you’ve made. The Minister or local authority can send this certificate to the Registrar-General of Land, who will add it to the official records for your land for free.

The compensation certificate includes important information like a description of your land, basic details about the agreement, the names and addresses of everyone involved, and where people can look at a copy of the agreement.

Even if the agreement only affects part of your land, the certificate can be added to the records for all of your land. If there are small mistakes in describing the land, it’s okay as long as the Registrar-General of Land can figure out which land it’s about.

If someone buys your land after the certificate is added to the records, they have to follow the agreement too. Anyone can ask to see a copy of the agreement and find out how much of it has been completed.

When the agreement is finished or no longer affects the land, the Minister or local authority will tell the Registrar-General of Land to remove the certificate from the records.

The Minister or someone they choose, or the chief executive of the local authority, must sign the compensation certificate and any notice to remove it.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM45786.

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"The government must try to buy your land before taking it for public projects"

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Part 2 Acquisition of land for public works
Acquisition by agreement

19Compensation certificate may be registered to protect agreement

  1. Where the Minister or any local authority has entered into an agreement under section 17, or entered into an agreement for the payment of compensation under this or any other Act for damaging or injuriously affecting any land, or for the temporary occupation of any land, or for any condition or restriction to be applied in respect of any land, the Minister or local authority may forward a compensation certificate in accordance with this section to the Registrar-General of Land who shall, without fee, register it against the record of title to all land affected by it.

  2. Every compensation certificate under this section shall set out—

  3. the description of land affected by the certificate:
    1. brief particulars of the agreement which the Minister or local authority has entered into in respect of the land:
      1. the name and the address (if any) mentioned in the agreement of each person, other than the Minister or local authority, who is a party to the agreement:
        1. the place where, and the hours during which, a copy of the agreement may be inspected, and a reference by which the agreement may be identified.

          1. Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, where the land affected by an agreement comprises or includes part of the land in a record of title, and the part is not accurately defined in the agreement, a compensation certificate in respect of the agreement may be registered against the whole of the land in the record of title, and it shall not be necessary for the purpose of registering the compensation certificate to define accurately the land affected by the agreement.

          2. The validity of a compensation certificate shall not be affected by any misdescription in it of the land if sufficient information appears on the face of the compensation certificate to enable the Registrar-General of Land to satisfy himself of the identity of the land intended to be affected.

          3. Every person who acquires an estate or interest in any land in respect of which a compensation certificate under this section has been registered shall be bound by the agreement to which it relates to the same extent as the person from whom he acquired the estate or interest.

          4. Every person who applies at the place and within the hours specified in a compensation certificate for permission to inspect the copy of the agreement shall be shown the copy and any annexed plan, and, if the agreement requires payment of any money or the vesting of any land or the execution of any work, shall if he so requests be advised as soon as possible of the extent to which the agreement has been performed.

          5. Where the Minister or local authority is satisfied—

          6. that any land against which a compensation certificate is registered is not affected or no longer affected by the agreement to which the compensation certificate refers; or
            1. in any other case, as soon as all the requirements of the agreement have been performed or otherwise discharged so far as they affect any piece of land and that piece of land has ceased to be injuriously affected by the agreement and by any act done under the agreement—
                1. the Minister or local authority shall notify the Registrar-General of Land to that effect who shall, without fee, note that the compensation certificate is discharged against the title to the land.

              1. Every compensation certificate, and every notice under subsection (7), shall be signed by the Minister or by some person authorised by the Minister in that behalf or, in the case of a local authority, shall be signed by the chief executive of the local authority.

              Compare
              • 1948 No 39 s 17
              Notes
              • Section 19(1): amended, on , by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).
              • Section 19(3): amended, on , by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).
              • Section 19(4): amended, on , by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).
              • Section 19(7): amended, on , by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).
              • Section 19(8): amended, on , by section 262 of the Local Government Act 2002 (2002 No 84).