Review of the Unit Titles Act 1972
I. Minister's Foreword
When the Unit Titles Act was first enacted, almost 32 years ago, unit developments were a new type of housing development. The use, scale and number of unit title developments have since changed considerably. Large scale, multi-storey unit title developments are now a relatively common feature of New Zealand’s urban landscape. This trend to build up rather than out looks set to continue and accelerate, particularly in Auckland.
This discussion paper is designed to gather public comment and feedback on the act and how it might be improved to accommodate the current housing environment.
The Unit Titles Act 1972 facilitates medium and high-density housing developments by providing a system for:
- The creation and ownership of individual "unit" titles within a development, and
- The establishment of a body corporate, made up of the owners of those unit titles, to administer the common areas within the development and to carry out a range of management and administrative functions relating to the development as a whole.
In November 2003, the Government announced its decision to review the Unit Titles Act. A number of factors influenced that decision, including:
- the findings of the Law Commission in its 1999 Report "Shared Ownership of Land" (Report No. 59);
- work undertaken by the Auckland Regional Council2 on the importance of the Act in the context of its policy to increase the region’s housing density; and
- more general commentary from a variety of sources on perceived shortcomings with the Act.
This review also has links to other government initiatives and reviews including the review of the Residential Tenancies Act, the introduction of the Building Act 2004, the review of the New Zealand Building Code, the New Zealand Housing Strategy, the Sustainable Cities Regional Programme and the Urban Design Protocol.
The purpose of this discussion document is to identify aspects of the law relating to unit title developments that cause problems and may be in need of reform. It then seeks consumer, stakeholder and industry comment as to whether reform is required and what changes may be appropriate.
I welcome your views on the Act.
Hon Margaret Wilson
Minister for Building Issues