What Territorial Authorities need to provide when e-dealing
Since the introduction of LODGE dealings, more complex transactions such as subdivisions have resulted in a greater involvement of local Territorial Authorities (TAs) with e-dealings.
As a result of inquiries to both the NZLS's Property Law Section and LINZ, we wish to clarify what TAs need to provide for e-dealings, what lawyers need to provide for signing, and who should sign.
Situations requiring clarification:
- Lawyers, or even, councils requiring the Mayor to sign all Authority and Instruction (A&I) forms
- Lawyers requiring photo ID of council officers who sign the A&I forms
- Requirements for Public Corporates
Documents requiring A&I forms
The definitive way of deciding if certifications are required is to refer to the Image Only Instruments Requiring Certifications (A&I required) tables on this website.
Image only instruments requiring certifications need an A&I form, whereas image only instruments not requiring certifications do not require an A&I.
As a general rule, if a certificate or notice does not come under the Land Transfer Act (LTA), then it generally will not need to be certified and signed. Simply scanning and attaching the notice when preparing the instrument is sufficient.
Notices that arise out of the Resource Management Act 1991, or other non LTA legislation (i.e. most notices or certificates from TAs), do not generally need to be certified and signed. These would include s224 certificates (C224) and bonds (BOND).
Instruments that are an interest in land such as Amalgamation Covenants (C240), esplanades reserves (C232) and revocation of easement conditions (C243), are an exception, however, and will need to be certified and signed, which will require an A&I form. Accordingly, an A&I form is only required if you need to certify and sign the instrument. A forced sale for non-payment of rates by the TA is another example of an instrument requiring an A&I form.
Public Corporates and A&I forms
Public Corporates are defined in the NZLS e-dealing Guidelines as:
Public Corporate: This is a term used for a publicly listed company (i.e. listed on the stock exchange) Territorial Authority or government department etc. The Public Corporate Authority and Instruction form is Appendix 3 to these guidelines. The Public Corporate entity can nominate any authorised signatory for signing the Authority and Instruction form.
All TAs are Public Corporates for the purposes of e-dealing and signing of A&I forms. The Public Corporate A&I form does not require photo ID. Accordingly, any time an A&I is required from a TA, the Public Corporate A&I form should be used. It is usually more efficient to generate this out of the relevant dealing in Landonline. Alternatively, it can be downloaded from the NZLS Property Law Section's website.
Signing an A&I form
The effect of the instrument is the same electronically as it was in paper. Therefore, the process and who needs to authorise the instrument should be exactly the same council staff who would have authorised or signed the paper instrument.
Very few paper instruments would ever need to be submitted to a full council meeting, or to the Mayor for signature or approval. The wording on the A&I form states that the signatory is authorised to sign on the behalf of the TA. Delegated authority (with appropriate internal checks and balances) is the only way in which a TA can operate efficiently.
There should be no need to direct who should sign the A&I form. If the TA asks the law firm who should sign, then the answer should be 'whichever council officer would have signed the paper instrument in the past'.
In summary:
- Check the instrument tables to see if an A&I is required
- If yes, prepare a Public Corporate A&I form
- Allow the council to determine the appropriate signatory.
Refer to e-dealing watch point A&I forms and Territorial Authorities for more information on what A&I form TA's need to use in this edition of Landwrap.
e-dealing watch points for practitioners
e-dealing watch points are continually being added to. You will find these and links to other e-dealing related articles on this website.
Memorandum of Priority included in a new title dealing
Some conveyancing customers have been experiencing difficulties with Memorandum of Priority (MP) instruments within new title dealings.
Currently, it is not possible to have an MP that affects pending new titles and mortgages/charges that will be copied forward to those new titles when they issue (become Live).
Landonline does not recognise an association between those mortgages/charges and the pending new titles until the new title(s) issue. As a result, it is not possible in the 'Prepare Memorandum of Priority' screen to specify such mortgages against the new titles.
This is not an issue if your MP only affects new mortgage instruments that affect the pending new titles. In this instance you can prepare the MP in the new title dealing.
LINZ will address this issue, initially by adding a message to the 'Create Dealing' screen. The message will alert conveyancers when a dealing is first created to complete a separate dealing for the MP. A detailed change to the Landonline code to fully cater for MPs affecting new titles is scheduled to follow in a subsequent release.
Workarounds include:
- lodge the dealing minus the MP, and lodge the MP immediately following in a manual dealing
- wait until the new title(s) issue (i.e. data now exists for existing interests), and complete a separate dealing for the Memorandum of Priority instrument(s).
The key benefit of a separate dealing for the MP is that generally, this will be an AUTO REG instrument that automatically registers when you submit.
Ordering Post Registration Searches (PRS) vs new titles
Conveyancing customers have been asking how the Post Registration Search (PRS) function works for new titles, e.g. titles that will issue from a subdivisional dealing.
When submitting a new title dealing, the PRS screen displays a list of all the titles affected by the dealing, i.e. the head title(s) and the new title(s). At this stage, new titles only have a Pending or Pre-Allocated status, and have yet to be linked to a plan/title diagram. Therefore, you are only able to request a search type of 'Title (No Diagram)' for any new titles in the dealing.
New title(s) issue from head title(s). At the time of completing the PRS, the head title will be Live or Part-cancelled, and as a result, a title search with or without diagram may be requested. However, once the dealing is registered the head title may become Part-cancelled or Cancelled. Any searches of head titles that become cancelled will result in a historic title search being returned.
The table below shows the type of title search that can be requested for a dealing that cancels or part-cancels titles and issues new titles.
| Title status at time of request |
Description |
Post Registration Search options |
Search returned |
| Live |
Live current title |
Title (With Diagram)
Title (No Diagram) |
As requested unless the title is cancelled in which case a Historic Title search will be returned |
| Part-cancelled |
Partially cancelled title |
Title (With Diagram)
Title (No Diagram) |
As requested unless the title is cancelled, in which case a Historic Title search will be returned |
| Pre-allocated |
Pre-allocated by a survey plan but not yet issued |
Title (No Diagram) |
As requested |
| Pending |
New title created, but not yet issued |
Title (No Diagram) |
As requested |
If you require a title search of a new title with a diagram, you must wait until the dealing is registered, and complete either a Request Product List search or Manual search within Landonline.
Powers of Attorney – refresher
When does a Power of Attorney (PA) need to be deposited with LINZ, and when should it be retained on your client file?
Requirements for depositing a PA have been described in the article Powers of Attorney in the January 2009 edition of Landwrap.
Most common e-dealing rejection reasons
The most common e-dealing rejection reasons, along with suggested prevention methods, have recently been added to this website. The objective of publishing these is to assist our conveyancing customers with faster registration, and to reduce work. We will update the list on a monthly basis.
Electronic e-dealing requests - reminder
e-dealing Titles requests were introduced in Release 3.2 on the 25 May 2009. Customers now have the ability to complete common title-related requests electronically via their Landonline Workspace. This gives you the benefit of being able to track what stage your request is at.
Note that electronic requests to withdraw dealings and instruments will be processed automatically where the dealing has been lodged but not yet assigned to a LINZ staff member.
Types of Titles requests:
- Titles - Correction
- Titles - Correction Prevents Registration
- Titles - Dealing Correspondence
- Titles - Application to Sustain Caveat (S145/A145)
- Titles - Requisition _ Rejection Clarification
- Titles - Requisition _ Rejection Review
- Titles - TA Amalgamation Consultation
- Titles - Trustee Change
- Titles - Withdraw Instrument
- Titles - Withdraw Dealing
Note that to enable an e-dealing user to "Send" the request types of Titles – Withdraw Instrument and Withdraw Dealing, your firm System Manager must allocate the privilege Withdraw Dealing to you.
Requests can be sent to LINZ at any time when you are in Workspace. Requests will display in your Workspace with one of the icons below, which represent that status of the Request.
We have recently updated the e-dealing FAQs with commonly asked questions about requests.
A&I forms and Territorial Authorities
Authority and Instruction (A&I) forms are used to give a conveyancer or solicitor authority to register/lodge electronic instruments on behalf of the Territorial Authority (TA).
Clarification has been sought from conveyancers on when a TA needs to use an A&I form, and what type of form should be used.
TAs need to use a Public Corporate A&I form on the NZLS Property Law Section’s website for instruments that are to be registered on their behalf by a conveyancer or solicitor, which is available on the NZLS's website. The A&I form can also be created from within Landonline.
This form needs to be signed by the council officer who would have signed the paper document (Authorised Signatories).
Note: No witnessing or photo identity is required for a Public Corporate A&I form.
New FAQs on A&I forms have been added to the e-dealing FAQs, and the TA e-certification FAQs.
Refer to article What Territorial Authorities need to provide when e-dealing in this edition of Landwrap.
