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Government boosts assistance for First Home Buyers using Kiwisaver

1 August 2016

From Monday 1 August 2016, income caps will increase from $80,000 to $85,000 for a single person and from $120,000 to $130,000 for a couple wanting to use the Kiwisaver HomeStart scheme.

The Government is adjusting both the income caps and house price caps to allow first home buyers access to homes in a more realistic price range when using the Kiwisaver scheme.

HomeStart Grant

The HomeStart programme helps first home buyers put together a deposit by granting them up to $10,000 for an existing house and $20,000 for a new home, on a joint basis.

House price caps will increase by […]

Latest News, Property Finance|
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Reserve Bank tightens rules for property investors

21 July 2016

What’s happening?

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is tightening the rules for property investors, with a requirement to have a maximum LVR* of 60% nationwide.

The RBNZ has kept the LVR threshold for owner-occupied the same at >80% LVR, but has replaced current regional volume limits (10% Auckland, 15% rest of NZ) with a nationwide limit of 10%.

*LVR is Loan to Value Ratio – it refers to the amount borrowed versus the value of the property.

What is changing and when?

These changes are effective 1 September, but the banks are starting to adopt them now.

All property investor applications will be […]

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Buyers be wary and check the contract

Agreement for Sale and Purchase

The first port of call is to make yourself familiar with the mortgagee’s form of agreement for sale and purchase. This is typically amended considerably from the standard form and designed to give the mortgagee maximum protection. This includes providing the mortgagee the opportunity to cancel the sale, the general exclusion of the risks that are usually taken by a vendor in a voluntary sale situation, as well as removing many of the standard rights normally afforded to a purchaser. Below are some of the key factors that purchasers should be made aware […]

Buying & Selling Property|
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Estate Administration

What steps have to be taken?
When somebody dies, the paperwork involved in proving the Will and in sorting out the deceased’s property can be daunting for the family.

Deceased estate administration
When someone dies the following steps have to be taken:

The Will should be read to make sure that you understand what it means.
The people named in the Will as trustees or executors apply to the High Court for a probate order confirming the Will and giving them authority to deal with estate assets.
If there is no Will then someone has to apply to the High Court for a grant of […]

Owning Property|
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Reverse Mortgages

For many New Zealanders, the family home is their most valuable asset. For some people this can mean they are asset rich but cash poor. It is such people who are being targeted in marketing campaigns for reverse mortgages. These mortgages can have serious implications for the home owner. Although they are relatively new in New Zealand, they have been around for many years in the USA and UK.

What is a Reverse Mortgage?
Reverse mortgages (also called reverse annuity mortgages and equity release loans) involve a loan borrowed against the equity in the home owner’s property. […]

Property Finance|
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Easements

What is an easement?
An easement, simply put, grants a right to (usually) the owner of one piece of land, to do something on someone else’s land, with a corresponding duty on the other person to allow him to do it.

Easements like this are sometimes known as “positive easements” because they create a positive duty.

The other sort of easement is a “negative easement”. These easements allow the owner of one parcel of land to stop his neighbour from doing something – for example, “you must not dam the stream that runs from your property to mine so that it prevents […]

Property Law|
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