Section 11: Subdividing land-
Subdividing land
As with all property proposals, ask yourselves how subdividing the property will contribute to the life and growth of the congregation and advance God’s mission.
There are a number of reasons a parish may wish to subdivide its land, such as:
- the land is larger than the parish requires, and it wishes to sell the area that is surplus to its requirements
- to register a church and parsonage property on individual titles, perhaps to enable the separate sale of one or the other.
Talk to your Synod about your general plans and time frames. It will help to make early contact to alert them that decisions are underway. Challenging or unusual proposals may take extra time.
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In order to subdivide a property, you must obtain approval from:
- Synod
- MCPC
You will need to complete an MCPC application form – Appendix 1, at the back of this handbook.
You must have a registered valuation
You will need to obtain a valuation from a registered valuer based on the value of the proposed subdivision being issued with its own title. Valuations must be no more than 90 days old at the time of application.
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Cost of subdividing
There are significant costs involved with subdividing land, such as:
- a survey plan
- local authority consent fees
- valuation fees
- possible ground works, water supply etc
- creation of easements
- land transfer and legal fees.
You need to consider how these costs will be funded and make this clear in your application.
The final stage of a subdivision of land is its registration with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and the issue of a separate title. The BOA’s lawyer will prepare the necessary transfer documents, which are then executed by MCPC as the legal owners of the land.
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Legal review of documents
All documents must be signed by members of the BOA and must first be approved by the BOA’s lawyer and approved as being in order for signing. This includes any easements that may be associated with the subdivision and the Land Transfer Authority and Instruction (A&I) form. The cost of this review is an expense associated with the subdivision process and will be on-charged for payment by the parish.
