Wagner Nicky: Unit Titles Bill — First Reading 
Wagner Nicky: Unit Titles Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1724] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I rise to support the Unit Titles Bill and it is good to see that it has been so positively received in the House today. It is well and truly time to update and streamline the Unit Titles Act which was originally passed in 1972. 
Over the last 36 years living trends have changed dramatically. We have just heard from Maurice Williamson about what Auckland looked like in 1972. We can see the vast change in the way people live. More New Zealanders are living in cities; many more are living in higher-density suburbs and in inner-city apartments. Multi-unit and high-rise apartment developments have become common and very popular. It is a modern trend both locally and internationally and it is forecast to continue. Many more New Zealanders are expected to move into apartments townhouses and high-rise buildings over the next few years. 
The original 1972 Act was designed to manage developments in the time when they were mostly pretty simple and small. Back in the 1970s even the language was different. Unit titles were most commonly used when one was building a couple of ownership flats—that is a term from the 1970s—and for that purpose the Unit Titles Act worked well. But as bigger and more complex multi-unit developments became common changes needed to be made. 
This bill is the result of an in-depth review of the Act undertaken in 2004 but it has taken another 5 years and a change of Government to bring action. It was interesting to hear Maryan Street talking about Shane Jones’ contribution to this bill. It is just a pity that something that could streamline and cut bureaucracy was not brought to the House. 
The aim of this bill is to streamline and to simplify and it is part of National’s push to simplify all regulations and to cut through inefficient bureaucracy. The aim is to provide increased flexibility and to produce simple and effective legislation for the setting up and management of unit titles and multi-unit living now and into the future. The main problems identified with the Act when it is applied to larger and more complex development revolve around joint decision-making building maintenance—and of course we see that continuing with the rotting homes story—financial management and also consumer protection and dispute resolution. 
Members of the House need only watch one of the many television programmes that focus on the neighbours from hell to understand the tensions and the problems that can arise with greater numbers of people moving to small living spaces. With increased density of dwellings neighbours are required to work together more closely in order to organise their living arrangements and to share facilities. This new bill provides clear processes for doing this. 
The bill will modernise the governance framework. It is designed to make joint decision-making by the bodies corporate simpler because right now there are developments where any action by the body corporate is stalled. That is because the body corporate is unable to get a unanimous resolution and a contrary neighbour can control and enrage dozens of unit holders. It is happening every day. As has been said the new bill will lower that voting threshold to 75 percent in favour so that one person can no longer hold the rest of the body corporate to ransom. 
The bill will clarify the position of unit holders the body corporate managers and developers in relation to their duties and powers. The clarification in itself will immediately reduce disputes about the rights and responsibilities of neighbours. 
The bill will also establish a resolution service for anything to do with unit title matters. The service will be required to provide information and education on how unit titles work and if necessary to mediate or adjudicate. It will also introduce new ownership structures that are designed to be flexible and that can manage large complex developments particularly those—as has been mentioned—that may have a mixed use such as living and working restaurant use and other uses and also those that have a multi-stage development period. One of the problems with the current legislation is that it is difficult to do a part of a development without getting oneself tied up with bureaucracy. 
Finally the bill will introduce a mandatory disclosure regime for buyers sellers and developers. This is really to make consumers better informed so that they can make better choices in a more transparent and accountable way. 
Interestingly enough the most common area for dispute in multi-owned developments is the management of maintenance or really the management of finance for maintenance. This bill will require mandatory long-term maintenance plans and long-term maintenance finance organisation. That will be based on good sound property management practices but it will be flexible enough to be tailored to the development’s needs. 
This bill has been long-awaited and the industry supports it. There has been a wide consultation process and feedback has been generally positive. I am delighted that National is addressing the problem of an outdated Act. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: National is addressing it? 
NICKY WAGNER 
: National is addressing it. We promised to simplify and streamline regulation and this is another example of us taking action very early in our term. I am sure that many multi-unit developments will be better organised and will become better places to live now that we can get rid of the old Unit Titles Act and the way that it empowers neighbours from hell.