“As with any property bubble, it dies eventually. I’ve been in the business almost 40 years and I’ve come to see nearly four of these cycles. I’m definitely starting to see the levelling of the playing field, and legislation and regulations are speeding up the process” Bill Sandston, CHAPMAN TRIPP It used to be the case that buying up in New Zealand (whether local or international) was an attractive enterprise given the free market in property and liberal taxes. But this is no longer the case with recent changes to income tax laws, foreign purchasing and capital gains. “As with any property bubble, it dies eventually. I’ve been in the business almost 40 years and I’ve come to see nearly four of these cycles. I’m definitely starting to see the levelling of the playing field, and legislation and regulations are speeding up the process.” Take the changes to the Resources Management Act, for example, which may remove appeal rights and speed up the consent-making process, he says. “But, say more consents are fast-tracked, the infrastructure is improved and builders are trained up quickly, the fear of course is that the last time New Zealand tried to
build large quantities of houses, it ended in disaster, with many leaky homes cases still going through the courts today, dating back to the 1980s.” There is also a real concern that infrastructure, especially transport, will not be upgraded to cope with increased intensity, he says. Regardless, the housing bubble has meant the legal industry has been inundated with work and this will continue for many years, he says. Everyone in the property industry is flat out – be it lawyers, consultants, engineers, builders, councils, and architects. Even with all the legislative changes, the property industry lags behind because of its inherently slow and beaurocratic nature, he says. Like Sandston, Bell Gully property and real estate partner Andrew Petersen says the
Auckland housing crisis has created a lot of work for the legal industry. “2015 was a very busy year for property lawyers generally and we saw excellent interest from offshore clients wanting to invest in New Zealand property. There was also a steady supply of large development and infrastructure projects and property portfolio transactions, and these appear to be keeping the legal industry busy overall.” On a practical level, applications are far more complex to prepare and require a higher level of input from lawyers acting for both the seller and the buyer. The Overseas Investment Act is becoming a significant issue for many transactions involving international investors, for example. “Unfortunately, the Act captures a number of transactions that the general public would not necessarily expect (eg, a commercial lease of premises next to a reserve). We think
Partnership. Buddle Findlay is proud to announce four new partners.
Aidan Prebble, Christchurch
Environment and resource management, and local government
Amy Ryburn, Wellington Technology, media and telecommunications
Miriam Andrews, Auckland Banking and financial services
Nick Bragg, Auckland
Corporate and commercial
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