Shearer David: Unit Titles Bill — In Committee 
Shearer David: Unit Titles Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9864] 
DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to take a call to support the Unit Titles Bill as an Auckland MP. As many speakers have already noted in many ways Auckland will be most affected by this legislation. The growth of multi-united residential areas in particular is a feature of the Auckland landscape. When we look forward to 2050 or 2060 it is estimated that about 500000 people in Auckland—about a quarter of the population—will be living in the units this bill is addressing. So it is very appropriate and very timely that we are addressing it today. It is 38 years since the original Act was passed in 1972. As previous speakers have said this piece of legislation was begun under Labour and its passage is continuing in a cooperative spirit under the current Government. 
I will speak on a couple of areas in Part 2. A couple of the real improvements to the legislation come through the fact that a body corporate will own common property. That is important because it basically enables the body corporate to act on behalf of all the other unit holders and for the good of the development as a whole. This bill very much updates what was there before. It defines “common property”; it broadens the definition to include building elements that will affect more than just one unit so in a sense the corporate owns the common property. What that means—and I think it is important—is that if an apartment block for example needs a new lift a roof repair or a piece of major reconstruction or change that will cost a large amount of money there is a responsible body that is able to take care of that repair or redevelopment. That is very important because otherwise it would fall on just one of the unit holders to have to do that but this way the cost is shared and the benefits to the apartment block in this case are shared across all the units. 
Another provision that is useful is that large staged or mixed-use title developments will be able to be layered. That means that if there is for example a multi-use type of development we are able to have a smaller subsidiary group which will be able to have its own body corporate to manage its own interests. It is very important for a mixed-use building—perhaps a car park a shopping centre and an apartment block together—that people who have a common interest in a particular aspect of the operation can exercise those rights. So it really does protect the rights of people particularly people who have been badly affected individually by decisions that have been made and it gives them a great deal of protection within the body corporate. 
One other thing that I will touch on is the fact that body corporate decisions no longer need to be unanimous. I think that is a good provision. It eliminates the possibility of many of the decisions that need to be taken by the body corporate being held up by non-resident owners who often object to something that will benefit all the people in a particular apartment block. The change to the legislation means that the great majority of the people can benefit. Thank you.