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Country guide

Buying a home in New Zealand

There is no stamp duty, but an unconditional offer at auction is as final as it gets.

A standard agreement form used nationwide, offers made either conditional or unconditional, and a LIM report from the council that tells you what the seller may not.

Below: the steps in order, then every document you need to get hold of before you are committed - who has it, what it costs, and the things it turns up, with what each one costs and how long it holds you up if you find it late.

Checked August 2026. Thresholds, grants and taxes change with budgets - the sources at the end are the ones to trust over this page.

The essentials

Deposit
20% for owner-occupiers under LVR rules
Lower is possible within each bank's limited exempt lending, and through First Home Loan
Paid on going unconditional
Usually 10% of the price
Government charge
No stamp duty
Bright-line test applies if you sell within the relevant period and it is not your main home
Who does the legal work
Lawyer or licensed conveyancer
Binding at
Signing, subject to any conditions; immediately at auction
Settlement
Commonly four to six weeks

The steps, in order

  1. 1Get pre-approval and understand the LVR rulesThe Reserve Bank limits how much low-deposit lending banks may do, so a small deposit is not just a matter of paying insurance.
  2. 2Order a LIM and read the titleThe Land Information Memorandum is the council's record: consents, drainage, hazards, notices. The record of title shows easements, covenants and the ownership type.
  3. 3Get a builder's reportEspecially for anything built between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, where monolithic cladding and weathertightness failures are common and expensive.
  4. 4Make the offer conditional, unless it is an auctionStandard conditions cover finance, LIM, builder's report, title and sometimes the sale of your home. Each has a date by which it must be satisfied.
  5. 5Go unconditionalWhen every condition is met you confirm, pay the deposit, and the sale is locked in.
  6. 6SettleYour lawyer handles the transfer and the money. Do a pre-settlement inspection first.

Conditional versus unconditional

The standard agreement lets you buy time to check things, but only if the conditions are written in. At auction there are none: the property is sold unconditionally on the fall of the hammer, so every check must be complete and finance arranged beforehand.

Ownership type matters more than it sounds

Freehold is simplest. Cross-lease means you own a share of the land and lease your dwelling - alterations often need the other owners' consent, and a flats plan that no longer matches the buildings is a defect. Unit title means a body corporate, levies and a pre-contract disclosure statement. Leasehold means ground rent reviews that can be brutal.

Weathertightness and earthquakes

Leaky building syndrome affected many homes built with monolithic cladding and untreated timber framing in the 1990s and 2000s, and repairs run into six figures. Separately, some commercial and multi-unit buildings are earthquake-prone and carry a remediation deadline that passes to the owner.

What you owe later

There is no stamp duty, which surprises buyers from Australia and the UK. There is a bright-line test that taxes gains if you sell a property that is not your main home within a set period, and rules for overseas buyers under the Overseas Investment Act.

The documents to get, and what they catch

5 documents to get hold of before you are committed, and 8 of the things they turn up - each with what it costs and what it does to your timetable if it is found late. Costs are indicative and move with the market.

  1. 1

    LIM report

    Do not skip

    The council's record of consents, drainage, hazards and notices on the property.

    Where:
    The territorial council
    When:
    Before going unconditional; make it a condition
    Cost:
    $300-$450, urgent about $500

    A deck, garage conversion or bathroom with no code compliance certificate

    Cost: $5,000-$40,000 to regularise, or removal; insurers may decline coverDelay: Three to nine months for a certificate of acceptance

    What a close read catches: The consent record is compared with what is physically on the property, so unconsented work is reported as a gap rather than missed.

    The land is flood-prone or subject to a hazard notice under section 71-74

    Cost: Insurance loading or refusal, and a materially lower resale price

    What a close read catches: Hazard notices are read against the buyer's plans and their insurer's likely position.

  2. 2

    Builder's or pre-purchase inspection report

    Do not skip

    Weathertightness in particular, which is the defining New Zealand risk.

    Where:
    A licensed building practitioner you engage
    When:
    During the conditional period; before an auction
    Cost:
    $500-$1,200

    Monolithic cladding on a home built between about 1994 and 2005, with elevated moisture readings

    Cost: $150,000-$500,000 for a full recladDelay: Six to eighteen months, uninhabitable for part of it

    What a close read catches: Cladding type and build year are read together, because either alone is unremarkable and the combination is not.

    Untreated timber framing, which fails quietly where water gets in

    Cost: $50,000+ once it is found

    What a close read catches: The report's limitations are surfaced, since moisture testing is often non-invasive and misses what is behind the cladding.

  3. 3

    Record of title, with the ownership type

    Do not skip

    Freehold, cross-lease, unit title and leasehold are very different purchases.

    Where:
    Land Information New Zealand, through your lawyer
    When:
    Before going unconditional
    Cost:
    $50-$100 with the instruments

    A cross-lease flats plan that no longer matches the buildings, because a previous owner added a deck or conservatory

    Cost: $5,000-$15,000 in survey and legal work to update the plan, needing the other owners' consentDelay: Three to twelve months, and a neighbour can simply refuse

    What a close read catches: The flats plan is compared with the building as it stands, which is exactly the check that gets skipped.

    Leasehold with a ground rent review due, on a formula tied to land value

    Cost: Ground rent rises of several hundred per cent have occurred

    What a close read catches: Review clauses are projected forward rather than reported as the current rent.

  4. 4

    Pre-contract disclosure and body corporate records

    Do not skip

    Levies, long-term maintenance plan, and the state of the fund behind it.

    Where:
    The seller, for a unit title
    When:
    Before signing, and before going unconditional
    Cost:
    Free for the statement; $200-$400 for full records

    A long-term maintenance plan with almost nothing in the fund behind it

    Cost: $10,000-$100,000 per unit as a levy

    What a close read catches: The plan is read against the fund balance, so the gap is reported as a future levy.

  5. 5

    Sale and purchase agreement, with its conditions

    Do not skip

    The conditions are the only thing that lets you out.

    Where:
    The agent, on the standard ADLS form
    When:
    At the offer
    Cost:
    Free; lawyer review $400-$800

    Bidding at auction, where the agreement is unconditional on the fall of the hammer

    Cost: The deposit, usually 10%, plus damages if you cannot settleDelay: None - that is the risk

    What a close read catches: Every condition and its date is extracted, and an agreement with no conditions at all is reported as such.

TrueBuy’s document review covers Australian property today. The reading itself is not country-specific - it works through every page, quotes what it finds, and prices what can be priced - and the checklist above is what that reading looks for in New Zealand. If you are buying there and want to be told when we cover it, the support chat is the place to say so.

What to watch for

The things that cost New Zealand buyers money, in the order they tend to be discovered too late.

  • Monolithic cladding on a home built between roughly 1994 and 2005
  • A cross-lease flats plan that does not match what is actually on the site
  • Unconsented work: a deck, a garage conversion, a bathroom without a code compliance certificate
  • Body corporate minutes showing a long-term maintenance plan with no money behind it
  • Buying at auction before the builder's report is back

Where these figures come from

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Information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state, province and territory, and change. Confirm with a qualified professional in New Zealand before acting. TrueBuy’s document review and price estimates currently cover Australian property only.