Land Information Memorandum (LIM)

A LIM can only provide information that the council has on its records. The Council may not have all the information required to make a sound decision about purchasing the property, therefore the customer should inspect the site and also get expert opinion on the property. A LIM will contain all or any of the following, as applicable:

• Official address, legal description, and unit/flat number as appropriate.
• Special land features or characteristics including known hazards i.e. potential for erosion, slippage, subsidence or flooding.
• Private and public stormwater and sewerage (wastewater) drains as shown in the council records.
• Rates information i.e. annual rates payable and rates outstanding on the property.
• Water account information, including outstanding amounts.
• Planning information - any resource consents or requisitions affecting the land, and information on zonings and designations. Information relating to the use to which the land may be put and conditions attached to that use.
• Health information - any licences, registrations or requisitions e.g. for food premises, health facilities etc.
• Subdivision and developments - any known developments.
• Building - any building consents/permits, code compliance certificates, existence of a swimming pool.
• Kiwi distribution zones mapped by the Department of Conservation.
• Information given to the council about the land or buildings and/or site designations imposed by any statutory body i.e. Historic Places Trust.
• Any other information that the council considers (at its discretion) to be relevant.

A LIM will not provide full details of building restrictions applying to a site. If the customer is intending to buy a property for development, the proposal should be checked against the rules of the District Plan. The Council cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information held on its files. Any queries or concerns should be discussed with a Council Building Officer or Resource Planner and appropriate independent professional advice sought.

Why is there no record of inspections?

Not all building records will have a record of inspections. Recent building covered by a Building Consent will have an inspection record but, prior to that, Building Permits were used and local authorities were not required to file records of progress inspections. Because of this, there was no basis on which to assess or undertake a final inspection. For this reason, the Council does not do inspections on existing buildings. If you want to have the building inspected for your peace of mind, you need to employ an independent building consultant to carry out an inspection at your own cost.

Building work not finalised

Usually a Building Officer has either:

• attempted to make the final inspection, but there was no access to the building work. In this case another inspection can be booked.
• made the final inspection but there are matters outstanding. In this case the building work cannot be signed off.

Cost

The cost of the LIM is $395.00 (incl. GST) plus the convenience fee (as at 11 November 2024).

Payment must be made with your application.

**Where extensive research is required, you can incur a research fee that is in addition to the prescribed LIM fee.  Please refer to our Fees and charges for further information. (CTRL F, then search Land Information Memorandum)

An online convenience fee of 1.5% will apply to each application. This fee is not received by FNDC and will appear on your card/account statement.

Cancellation

Customers can cancel their LIM at any time but the request is conditional and approved by the LIMs team.  Click Terms and conditions for our refund policy.

Send a copy of your receipt and include 'LIM cancellation request' under the subject heading, with a brief explanation to: askus@fndc.govt.nz

Cancellation requests will be accepted if made before the final preparation stages of a LIM.  Please be aware that a cancellation fee - 20% of the LIM cost - applies.

Before you commence with your online application, please read the following:

Page time-out

Our online application site has a time-out period of 30 minutes after which, if your session has been inactive, will require you to recommence from the beginning. Please complete from start to finish within 30 minutes.

Have your Record of Title ready as a scanned attachment before you commence to avoid any time-out errors.  Only Title with Diagram (not Historic) search copies dated no older than 6 months will be accepted.

Browser compatibility

Please use Chrome as your browser for optimal results.

In the event of a payment error

If an error occurs while you are making your payment, please contact us on 0800 920 029 and ask to speak to a member of the LIM team.

The statutory timeframe to issue a LIM is 10 working days, excluding date of receipt of payment.  This is in accordance with the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 stated in Section 44A.

"Working days" exclude weekends, public holidays and the days including and between the 20th December to 10th of January in any year.  This end of year time period is in relation to the statutory period within which Land Information Memoranda must be issued.

Dependant on the file size you will either receive:

• An email with the LIM pdf attached.
• An emailed link via our Sharepoint platform directing you to open a LIM folder we have 'shared' with you.  Follow the prompts to view your LIM.  Downloading the LIM promptly will avoid the 14 day expiration on access.  You cannot share this link or email with another source.