All guides

• What the seller must tell you about the body corporate

  If you are buying a flat or an apartment, the seller has to hand you a disclosure statement before you agree to buy. What is in it, when it is due, and what you can do if it turns up late or wrong.

• Do you need a builders report?

  There is no legal requirement to get one. What a builders report covers, who else checks the house, and how to make one a condition of your offer.

• What happens if you can't settle on time?

  What happens if your money is late on settlement day, from the first day's interest to the settlement notice, cancellation and what the seller can claim, and what you can do if the seller is the one who's late.

• Cross lease: what you own, and what to look out for

  A cross lease means you own a share of the whole section with your neighbours and lease your own home back from them. What that means in practice, and what to check before you buy.

• Can you get a cross lease converted to freehold?

  It can be done, but every owner on the section has to agree, and it is a subdivision. Why people bother, what happens if a neighbour says no, and why nobody official will tell you the cost.

• What happens if the house is damaged before settlement?

  Whose problem it is if the house you're buying is damaged by a storm, fire or flood before you get the keys, when you can pull out, and how the price comes down.

• Do you need a lawyer to buy a house?

  No law in New Zealand says you must use one. What the law does say, what to know before you sign the agreement, and how a lawyer and a conveyancer differ.

• What does unconditional mean when buying a house?

  What conditions are, what going unconditional commits you to, and the deadlines on the way there that can cost you the house.

• What it costs to check a house before you buy it

  Nobody publishes what a property lawyer charges, and there is a reason. Here is what the checks actually cost, what you are entitled to be told about fees, and which of it you do not get back.

• What your lawyer must put in writing

  When you hire a lawyer to buy a house in New Zealand, the rules say some things must be in writing before work starts. Here is what, and what to do if you do not get it.

• Why cross leases exist

  If cross leases cause so much trouble, why were they ever made? Where they came from, why they caught on, what changed in 1991, and why there are still so many.