新屋主打算开发，邻居们打算找律师提告了 pakuranga

bungyjumping999

"Under section 310 of the Property Law Act 2007, your neighbour will have 15 working days to respond to your notice. If they do not respond in this timeframe, then it can be treated as them agreeing with what was written.

You can then take action to rectify the breach and pass all reasonable costs on to your neighbour. However, your neighbour is entitled to respond with a cross-notice if they believe there has been no breach or they are not liable.

You must not take action to remedy the breach before the 15 working day timeframe has expired, nor if a dispute arises between you. Should you choose to take action anyway, your neighbour will not be liable to contribute to the costs.

Should you be unable to resolve a dispute, an application can be made to the court for resolution.

The court can make an order on:

the existence/enforceability of the covenant;
whether any work is required and if so, the nature and extent of any required work;
the reasonable and proper cost of any required work;
who shall pay the cost of any required work;
the time any required work is to be undertaken;
the entry onto any land for the purpose of doing any required work; and/or
any other matters arising.
Any order a court makes is binding on all parties.

If you are purchasing a property with land covenants it is important you understand the implications of this before completing the purchase. If you own land subject to covenants it is important you know what these are and your avenues for enforcing any breach. In any event, you should consult your lawyer to review any land covenants registered against your property’s record of title."


Source:   https://www.bramwellbate.co.nz/h ... %20your%20neighbour,a%20time%20limit%20on%20covenants.&text=In%20some%20cases%2C%20covenants%20are,law%20no%20longer%20supports%20them.


Basically, if your land has a covenant, beware the neighbours will enforce the covenants and stop you from developing.

bungyjumping999

Covenants pass on to the "successor in titles"

meaning to say, once it is transferred to the new owner, the covenant passes on to the new owner, and has nothing to do with the original developer.

The new owner can enforce the covenant against each other.


Covenant in a way is really clever creation under the property law act, it helps to uniform the areas and newer developments.

bungyjumping999

speak from my personal experience, the person who helped me to do the titles actually showed me some precedents for covenants to be registered on the titles.

These are few clauses in the covenant i can think of:

- same colors scheme for the townhouses
- maintenance of common walls and roofs
- not putting on any shed or erecting awning or decking without neighbors' consent etc.
- placement of rubbish bin in designated areas.
-common maintenance of letterboxes and common areas etc.


According to her, the covenant registered on the title is a notice to the new owner, you cannot say you don't know about it.
The concept of covenant originated from Noah and the flood and the covenant is the Rainbow -------> some people might not understand it, it is a bible story.

             "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."        Genesis 9.

bungyjumping999

When I take a train and drive around in some Asia cities, I often wondering and think about what is unique about
Auckland suburbs as compare some Asia cities.

I think the covenants and the controls under Resource Management giving the council and neighbours a say and intervene in undesirable renovations, extension, development is really healthy.

Imagine a subdivision section, people just put a "second-hand dwelling" and making it like a slum? and putting on minor dwelling just like nobody's business?

Of course, the neighbor (not just one, but a group of neighbors in the areas) will want to have a say, and this is protected by the covenant. And the neighbor can enforce that covenant in court against each other.


If the person is a small developer, building just a few houses on a 700 sqm piece of land, this will take up some of his budget, money and time, and probably won't have the stamina to fight with the "group neighbours" in Court.

But, if the developer has a deep pocket and money to fight, that could be another story. Covenant is a real issue, they are there for a reason and is not historical documents.

bungyjumping999

陌生的香港人 发表于 2021-3-21 11:16
Not just Auckland, all cities in New Zealand, Australia and even the entire Anglo-Saxon world do ha ...

Thanks for your supplementary comments.

bungyjumping999

"法庭就是真的判鄰居勝了" --------> Court order can be an injunction to carry work.

Someone might end up going to prison for breaching the injunction and "contempt of court" (蔑视法庭)