After Good + Title opened recently in Takapuna, Channel Magazine talked to Karen Overend and Good + Title Business Development Manager Hamish Frizzell about just what this new company does. We discovered it’s offering a service that many will have wished was available as they tried to find an easy way to convert an old cross lease or unit title to a fee simple title.
Cross leases and unit titles were a great solution to development in burgeoning suburbs across the North Shore from the early 1970s. But these titles have proved problematic in a practical sense, requiring consent of all owners for any alterations you may wish to do; they can also result in your home begin worth less than it would otherwise be.
Fortunately, time and new legislation have meant that owners of property in multi-unit developments can now convert their property to a fee simple title. Unfortunately, this can be a complex process – which is where Good + Title comes in. The company has been designed to offer services that convert your cross lease to fee simple, and give you a “good title”. Good + Title manages the whole process for you, from planning, consenting, surveying and engineering (if necessary), through to the legal work, and even dealing with your mortgagee and your neighbours if you wish.
Good + Title is a collaboration of two professional service firms – Survus Consultants and Overend & Associates. Working together, they carry out all the activities you need to change of your title and makes it simple (in more than the legal sense) for you.
“Cross-leases have a long history of causing difficulties for their owners, solicitors, and real estate agents,” says Karen Overend, Principal of Overend and Associates. “This is reflected in a value-discount being applied to them. Any amendment to a building outline since the original cross-lease plan was done is required to be rectified with a new Unit Plan being prepared. This is a common problem often discovered at the time of sale and inevitably holds up the sale process. In addition, such a process requires the signatures and agreement from the other unit owners, which can also cause issues, particularly with absentee owners and the like.”
Having a fee simple title rather than a cross-lease means that you have much greater flexibility in what you can do with your property, she adds. “It can help avoid disputes, and, if and when you decide to sell, it generally increases your property’s marketability and sale value.”
Overend & Associates, she says, is somewhat unusual for a law firm. “We know that most lawyers are unwilling to have conversations about pricing, or to offer fixed price deals. We like to be different. Don’t get us wrong – we are not ‘cheap, cut price’ lawyers. We are top quality highly experienced property law specialists. But what we also are is transparent and efficient – we offer fixed prices so that we are incentivised to properly cost our work, and take the risk on underperformance.”
Survus Consultants is also different from the average survey company. “We run the subdivision process like a production line. Each job is worked on by no less than eight different staff, each one doing the part of the process they specialise in. This brings in greater efficiencies, expertise in each role, providing a quicker process and better value for you.
“We can therefore offer fixed prices based on our previous experience in these types of developments. We have done dozens of these so have them down to a pretty fine art.”
All property owners have to agree to converting the title, and once that agreement is reached, says Hamish, “how the fee is split is completely up to you and your neighbours. Usually, we find that the property owners want to share the fee equally, as everyone is being advantaged.”
Hamish or one of the team is generally in the Takapuna office Tuesday to Thursday each week, so if you’ve ever considered converting from your current cross lease or unit title, don't hesitate to pop in and chat to him.
Good + Title, 1 Byron Ave, Takapuna 0800 X LEASE (0800 953273)
