So you must first consider whether your property falls under the legislation's definition of farm land. Generally, farm land is defined as land used exclusively or principally for agricultural, horticultural, or pastoral purposes, or the purpose of keeping stock.
If your land is "farm land", then your property must be advertised and genuine efforts made to offer your property for sale to New Zealanders.
Any advertisement must contain a general description of the land, a statement that offers are sought from potential purchasers, and contact details of the owner or person to whom offers may be made.
The advertisement must be published in media generally used for advertising sale of land that is generally available to people in the local district in which the land is located.
However, it is still possible to enter into an agreement with your foreign investor before fulfilling your advertising obligations.
To do this, you can include a clause within the agreement that provides you with the ability to cancel in the event that, as a result of the advertising of the property for sale to comply with the requirements of the Overseas Investment Regulations, you receive an offer that is equally or more acceptable to you.
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Q. I propose purchasing new premises for a cafe in a shopping complex being built in central Auckland.
The sale and purchase agreement includes a provision that the purchaser cannot lodge a caveat against the title to the vendor's land before Land Information New Zealand has issued a separate certificate of title for the premises.
What is a caveat and why is there such a provision in the agreement?
A. From its Latin origins, the word "caveat" literally means "let him (or her) beware". In the legal sense, a caveat is a notice of a person's interest in land that can be lodged if that person is entitled to have his or her interest registered.
There are various forms of caveat, but most caveats lodged with Land Information New Zealand (Linz) are caveats against further transactions being registered on the title.
Generally, this sort of caveat is lodged by a person wanting to protect his or her interest in land by preventing the owner of the land from selling, mortgaging or otherwise dealing with the land in a way that may be inconsistent with that person's rights or interests.
The general effect of a caveat against dealings is that Linz is prohibited from registering any other instrument or document against that title (there are some exceptions).
Although a caveat is not usually lodged by a purchaser on entering into an agreement for sale and purchase, there may be circumstances where it is desirable to do so - such as where there is a long delay before settlement or if the vendor is trying to cancel your agreement and resell to another party.
In your situation it seems the developer will subdivide the block of land to create a separate title for each of the shops. Although your agreement for sale and purchase is only for a small part of the overall scheme, it creates an interest in the developer's land and, but for your agreement, you would have a right to lodge a caveat.
The developer needs to register various documents and it would be both expensive and impractical to have to deal with each purchaser to obtain a withdrawal of caveat before being able to register them.
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