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Hey guys wondering if anyone can help me out here.
Bought a place in Papatoetoe that we have been living in for a year. Unfortunately when we bought it we were not made aware of the exact type of cross lease we were getting ourselves into until 1 day before it went unconditional and we were overseas when we were informed so made a judgement call to buy it anyway.
So some background. It is a beautiful character house. Unfortunately one said of it is attached to a block of 3 units. As it is an old lease, there are no exclusive zones. The way it is fenced we have a generous sized lawn and area around the house. The adjoining brick units have a little square area out the back that is fenced off and is theirs. Our house and the fenced off area represent probably half of the whole section. However, on the LIM etc it says that we have a 1/4 share of the whole property. Apparently legally there is nothing stopping the neighbours from have a BBQ in our backyard. However, by the same token, there is nothing stopping me from jumping over the fence and hanging out in their space behind their unit. So my understanding is that these old cross leases were not designed to be made so that are was shared. It is just that at the time they were made there was no way to make exclusive zones.
Problem: we now need to sell it and it has proven very difficult. People are rightly concerned about this lease and its implications.
Someone has suggested to me that I could actually get our piece of land separated and that these days the council are happy to let this happen. The problem might be though that the other three owners of units disagree because they are also supposed have a 1/4 share (legally at least) and by doing this they now only legally have rights to the land that is fenced off around their unit.
So my question is; has anyone ever been through this before and what did they do? How do I get started? Do I contact solicitors, council or owners of the other unit first? Any general advice on this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Bought a place in Papatoetoe that we have been living in for a year. Unfortunately when we bought it we were not made aware of the exact type of cross lease we were getting ourselves into until 1 day before it went unconditional and we were overseas when we were informed so made a judgement call to buy it anyway.
So some background. It is a beautiful character house. Unfortunately one said of it is attached to a block of 3 units. As it is an old lease, there are no exclusive zones. The way it is fenced we have a generous sized lawn and area around the house. The adjoining brick units have a little square area out the back that is fenced off and is theirs. Our house and the fenced off area represent probably half of the whole section. However, on the LIM etc it says that we have a 1/4 share of the whole property. Apparently legally there is nothing stopping the neighbours from have a BBQ in our backyard. However, by the same token, there is nothing stopping me from jumping over the fence and hanging out in their space behind their unit. So my understanding is that these old cross leases were not designed to be made so that are was shared. It is just that at the time they were made there was no way to make exclusive zones.
Problem: we now need to sell it and it has proven very difficult. People are rightly concerned about this lease and its implications.
Someone has suggested to me that I could actually get our piece of land separated and that these days the council are happy to let this happen. The problem might be though that the other three owners of units disagree because they are also supposed have a 1/4 share (legally at least) and by doing this they now only legally have rights to the land that is fenced off around their unit.
So my question is; has anyone ever been through this before and what did they do? How do I get started? Do I contact solicitors, council or owners of the other unit first? Any general advice on this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
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