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Cross Lease to Fee Simple

So you have a cross-lease title, can you convert it to fee simple? The answer is yes you can.

Why would you want to convert the title?

The leases registered on a cross-lease title restrict your use of the property. For example you can’t construct a standalone garage or shed on the property without the consent of the neighbouring flat owners. Making external alterations to the dwelling requires the flats plan to be updated to record the new flat outline. If any of these requirements are missed, this could lead to issues when you come to sell the property in future.

There are no such restrictions with a fee simple title. You can make alterations without having to update the title.

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Considering changing your title? Give one of our team a call to talk you through the process

The first step is to approach the owners of the neighbouring flats to see if they agree to converting their title also. You will need the neighbouring flat owner’s consents as their titles will also need to be converted from cross-lease to fee simple at the same time. If they consent then you could all share the costs of the conversion since it will benefit all of you.

Once all the neighbours have consented, you will need to engage a surveyor to have the properties resurveyed as fee simple lots and a resource consent will need to be applied for. The surveyor will divide the underlying fee simple lot into separate lots, so each owner will receive a new lot with a defined area instead of having a share in the underlying lot.

Upon the resource consent being issued and the survey plan being finalised, the survey plan will be sent to your solicitor. We prepare the necessary documents for new fee simple titles. Our team are experienced in this process. This involves deregistering the leases, discharge the existing mortgages, registering the new mortgage and registering any easements for services that run through the section.

Contact one of our team to get the process started!

Collins and May have experience in assisting clients converting their cross-leases titles to fee simple. If you are looking at converting your title, get in contact with one of our team to move forward with the process.