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What are you actually buying?

In New Zealand, the ownership type — what you legally buy — matters more than what the home looks like. The two are independent: a townhouse can be freehold, cross-lease, or unit title, and the difference changes your rights, your risks, and sometimes your bank's appetite.

Dimension 1 · Ownership types (the one that bites)

Standard care

Freehold (fee simple)

“The most complete form of ownership in NZ.”

What you own: The land and everything on it, subject only to registered interests such as easements and covenants.

What to check
  • Covenants in newer subdivisions can dictate fences, colours, even house size.
  • Easements give others rights over parts of your land — know where they run.
Extra legal care

Cross-lease

“Shared land, leased home — ask your lawyer to explain YOUR flats plan.”

What you own: An undivided share of the land with the neighbours, plus a 999-year lease of your particular flat or house.

What to check
  • The flats plan must match the building as it stands today — an unconsented extension can make the title defective.
  • Structural changes usually need every cross-leaseholder's consent.
  • Conversion to freehold is possible but costly.
Extra legal care

Unit title (strata)

“You're buying into a building AND a small democracy.”

What you own: Your unit plus a share of common property; a body corporate manages the building with levies and rules.

What to check
  • Pre-contract disclosure statement, levies, and the long-term maintenance plan and fund.
  • Two to three years of AGM minutes — look for planned special levies or litigation.
  • Weathertightness and remediation history for the whole building.
  • Body corporate rules: pets, rentals, renovations.
Specialist advice

Leasehold

“Cheaper up front — understand exactly why before offering.”

What you own: The building or right to occupy, while the land is rented under a ground lease.

What to check
  • Ground rent amount, review dates, and the review mechanism — reviews can multiply the rent.
  • Remaining lease term.
  • Many banks restrict lending on leasehold — check finance early.
Specialist advice

Company share / licence to occupy

“Not a title at all — specialist advice territory.”

What you own: Shares in a company that owns the building, or a licence to occupy (common in retirement villages, which have their own disclosure regime).

What to check
  • Lender restrictions are significant.
  • Retirement-village licences follow a different act with their own cooling-off and disclosure rules.

Dimension 2 · Dwelling types (what it looks like)

House (standalone)

A detached home, most often on a freehold title.

  • All maintenance is yours.
  • Check the era: monolithic cladding 1994–2004 carries weathertightness risk; pre-1990s may hold asbestos.

Townhouse

Attached or terraced homes, often unit title or cross-lease.

  • Which ownership type? It changes everything — check the title first.
  • Shared walls and driveways need clear maintenance arrangements.

Apartment

A unit in a multi-storey building, almost always unit title.

  • Do the full body-corporate deep-dive.
  • Banks often want bigger deposits for small units (under ~50 m²).
  • Leasehold apartments exist — always check the land.

Unit / flat

A smaller attached dwelling, very often on a cross-lease.

  • Run the cross-lease checklist: flats plan accuracy, neighbours' consent for changes.

Lifestyle block

Rural-residential living on hectares rather than square metres.

  • Water supply, septic systems, and boundary fencing are on you.
  • Access and right-of-way maintenance obligations.
  • Rural insurance differs from urban cover.

Section (bare land)

Land without a dwelling — you're buying the right to build.

  • Are services at the boundary? Geotech report?
  • Covenants often set build timeframes and standards.
  • Construction lending works differently from a normal mortgage.

New build / off the plans

Buying from plans before or during construction.

  • Sunset clauses: who can cancel, and when.
  • Specification changes between plan and delivery.
  • 10-year builder warranties and the CCC before settlement.