Land Information New Zealand has reminded users about the requirements for residential land statements required under section 51A of the Overseas Investment Act 2005.

Section 51A requires a person who is acquiring an interest in residential land to make a statement as to whether the transaction requires consent under the Act. Section 51A and other measures were inserted by the Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018.

Where a residential land statement is required, the practitioner must obtain it before lodging, or directing to be lodged, the instrument.  This applies to both electronic instruments lodged via e-dealing and paper instruments lodged as a manual dealing.

If the practitioner has not obtained the statement or has reasonable ground to believe the statement is not corrected in a material particular, the practitioner must not lodge, or direct to be lodged, the instrument (section 51C(1)).

Section 51C(2) requires practitioners to retain a copy of the residential land statement for at least 7 years. This applies to statements that support paper instruments lodged manually.

Where it is an electronic instrument, a copy of the statement must be retained for 10 years after the date on which the instrument is lodged.

To avoid confusion, LINZ recommends that all statements are retained for a 10-year period.

LINZ says even though the compliance requirements are captured as part of the practitioner’s e-dealing certifications, a copy of the statement ordinarily will not be required for compliance review purposes and should not be provided with the A&I form (and other supporting documentation).

A copy of the statement must be retained so that it is available if requested by the Overseas Investment Office.

LINZ says the statement must not form part of the Register and therefore must not be uploaded as part of an electronic instrument, or produced with a manual dealing. Any statement which is lodged with LINZ manually will be returned to the lodger and will not be entered into Landonline.