Wellington property developers Mark and Anna Rudings failed in their Maori Land Court challenge over the status of prime development land at Otaki, claiming a four decades old administrative mistake listing Maori freehold land as general land should stand.
Maori freehold land has limited commercial value because of constraints on ownership.
Through their company Round Corner Ltd, the Rudings purchased the Otaki land in 2021 with plans for a mix of retail and residential lots. They thought it was general land.
Later learning it was in fact Maori freehold land, they challenged Maori Land Court moves to correct the land register.
The court acknowledged the Rudings difficulties were just one of many where Land Court administrative errors have seen confusion over the status of land sold, leading to onerous commercial consequences.
Maori freehold land is a subset of Maori land where common ownership is registered in the names of individuals of Maori descent who on sale must first offer this land to relatives.
This constraint on sale affects both sale prices and the ability to raise finance; what is described as a ‘status discount.’ Lenders taking security over Maori freehold land face a limited pool of potential buyers in a forced sale.
The Rudings said Round Corner’s plans for redevelopment were potentially affected by any reinstatement of the land as Maori freehold land.
What started out with best intentions to harmonise the Maori Land register (overseen by the Maori Land Court) and the general land register (overseen by Land Information New Zealand) has seen a bureaucratic muddle.
An unknown number of Maori freehold titles have been recorded on the Land Information register with no notation recording the status of this land as Maori freehold land.
In these cases, buyers searching only the Land Information register assume the property is general land.
A separate Maori Land register search is needed to learn the land’s status is Maori freehold.
Lawyers acting for the Rudings company, Round Corner Ltd, did not search the Maori land register.
Round Corner Ltd is a corporate. It never had Maori Land Court consent for its Otaki purchase.
Round Corner could not rely on the common legal maxim concerning title to land, that ‘the register is everything:’
Land Transfer Act rules confirming title to land do not guarantee status of the land. Just because title to the Otaki property was listed on the general register did not promise it was not Maori land.
In the Maori Land Court, Judge Thomas determined the Otaki land purchased by Round Corner Ltd remained Maori freehold land, despite no ‘Maori flag’ noted on the Land Information register.
She invited the Rudings to return to the Maori Land Court should this decision negatively impact on their proposed development.
The court was told development plans had been paused while the Rudings awaited final government plans to re-route state highway one around Otaki.
re Round Corner Ltd – Maori Land Court (14.08.25)
25.178