FAQs and Support

glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G  | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Agreement date

This is the date when the buyer and seller agreed to the terms and conditions of the sale (including price) by signing the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

Annual Value

Annual Value is another value that councils can use as a basis for levying rates. Annual Value (where assessed) is the greater value of either the estimated gross annual rental less 20% (or 10% if there are no buildings on the land) or 5% of the property’s Capital Value.

The following example illustrates how the Annual Value is calculated:

1. An estimate of the annual value that the property could be rented for in one year is calculated less 20% (or 10% if there are no buildings on the land).  For example:
   
   Potential rent $300 x 52               $15,600
   Less 20%                                    $  3,120
                                                       $12,480
   
   
2. 5% of the property's Capital Value is then calculated. For example:
   
   Capital Value                               $260,000
   5%                                               $  13,000

The Annual Value for this property is therefore $13,000 as 5% of the Capital Value is the greater value.

Area Units

Area Units are aggregations of surrounding meshblocks as defined by Statistics New Zealand. They have been used to define the name, area and profile of the "suburbs" in the Neighbourhood Profile report. As such, the suburb name will not always correspond to the name or size of your suburb as you commonly know it.

Assessment number

This forms part of a property's Valuation Reference Number. The assessment number can be up to 11 digits in length.

B

Building Age

This entry records a coded indication of the decade within which the principal structure was built.

Before 1920 indicates that the exact age is unknown but is almost certainly before 1920.

MIXED indicates a mixture of ages or substantial remodelling such that the original erection date ceases to adequately describe the age.

C

Capital value

This is defined by the Rating Valuations Act 1998 as, "subject to sections 20 and 21, the sum that the owner's estate or interest in the land, if unencumbered by any mortgage or other charge, might be expected to realise at the time of valuation if offered for sale on such reasonable terms and conditions as a bona fide seller might be expected to require".

Capital value does not include chattels, stock, plant or machinery which may be normally included in the sales of properties.

Car Parks

The number of car parks associated with a building.

Category Codes

Urban codes

These codes relate to the following urban property types:

Residential, Lifestyle, Commercial, Industrial, Other

Rural codes

These codes relate to the following rural property types:

Arable, Dairying, Mining, Pastoral, Forestry, Specialist, Horticulture

Certificate of title number 

Title to land in New Zealand is a matter of public record. The keeping of these records is the function of Land Titles Office of Land Information New Zealand.

Not all properties have a Certificate of title reference record available to display on our reports.

The certificate of title reference can be in two formats. The old format is as follows:

An old format Certificate of title reference consists of three parts. Many documents quote the second two fields of the C/T number only, omitting the first field. To successfully locate a property all three fields must be completed.

Field one: Land District Registry Code - Indicating the registry office where the Certificate of title is registered.

Field two: Volume Number - This field comprises of up to four alphanumerical characters.

Field three: Folio Number - This field is made up of one to four digits.

For example: WN / 12B / 127 or CB / 566 / 3

The new Landonline format is a single number of four or more digits. To search using the new Landonline format refer to Search by Certificate of title in the Advanced search section of the user guide.

Chattels

This is the aggregate of any sum paid with respect to the fixtures and fittings purchased with the property. Any goodwill, stock, items of plant or machinery will be shown as ‘other’ on the Sales detail.

If the field is blank or contains a zero figure then either the chattels were considered to add no value or there were no chattels included in the sale.

Classification

See sales classification

Comparable sales

These are the sales that E-Valuer thinks are most comparable to the property searched on based on a number of criteria. If a property is quite unique in characteristics to an area it is recommended that you get a Full Current Market Valuation, as it will require a more careful inspection to assess the market value of the property.

Construction

This describes the predominant material used for the external walls and roof of the principal structure, at the time of the last inspection. Information may not be displayed when there is more than one principal structure.

The materials recorded are:

Cross-leases

Cross-leased properties have multiple owners who hold an undivided interest in the freehold land and lease the buildings on it to each other.

Cross-leased plans can be recognised by the reference to the word "flats".

Current rating value date

See Rating value date

D

Date of agreement

This is the date when the buyer and seller agreed to the terms and conditions of the sale (including price) by signing the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

Date of settlement

The date the full amount of consideration is paid in return for ownership of the property. Also referred to as the ‘Possession Date’.

Date title issued

The date on which the title was first issued.

E

Estate type

An estate is a type of ownership of a piece of land e.g. fee simple, leasehold, stratum in freehold etc. A title can have more than one estate type.

Estimated values (as shown on E-Valuer)

E-Valuer calculates an estimated current market value for a property and displays an estimated value and estimate of selling range.

Estimated value - The estimated market value of the selected property based on what the selected comparable sales have recently sold for

Estimate of selling range - This is the likely selling range of the property based on Forecast Standard Deviation (FSD) shown in the confidence level. 

F

Farmland Districts

The following outlines the composition of each of the rural farmland districts as used in the rural property statistics

Floor area

This denotes the total floor area of the principal structure(s) and is given in square metres rounded to the nearest 10 square metres.

A dwelling with an attached garage (either under the house or within the main house structure) would have a total floor area, which includes the area of both the dwelling and the garage.

G

Goods and services tax

If Goods & Services Tax was paid as part of the residential property sale, then this may be included in the net sale price. Net sale price is inclusive of GST but exclusive of chattels.

For sales of other types of properties GST is often removed from the Net sale price and recorded as Other.

Gross sale price

The figure displayed is the total sale price recorded for the property. It therefore includes chattels and other considerations. (The gross sale price includes Goods & Services Tax (GST) if it has been paid. See Goods & Services Tax). Gross sale price is shown in whole dollars only.

I

Input date

This is the date the property sales data was entered into the database. Although the input date does not appear on the property information screens, it can be useful to assist in searching for particular property sales.

Input date is an additional search criterion. For more information please refer to the Advanced search section of the User Guide. Data is entered the following form: DD/MM/YYYY. (e.g. 1 May 1992 is entered as 01/05/1992. If a range of dates is required then the end date must be more recent than the start date.

Instrument

An Instrument specifies details of a property transaction. These can include the change of ownership whether that is through purchase or simply a transfer; leases, mortgages and easements etc. A brief summary of an Instrument will show on a certificate of title next to the instrument reference number.

Interests

Interests against a property can be categorised into encumbrances (e.g. caveat, lease, easement) or titles instruments (e.g. land transfer documents, building line restriction).

L

Land value

This is defined by the Rating Valuations Act 1998 as: "Land value", in relation to any land, and subject to sections 20 and 21, means the sum that the owner's estate or interest in the land, if unencumbered by any mortgage or other charge, might be expected to realise at the time of valuation if,

(a) Offered for sale on such reasonable terms and conditions as a bona fide seller might be expected to impose; and

(b) No improvements had been made on the land:

Land area

This denotes the aggregate area of the property, in hectares. Where no lot size is given it can be assumed that no specific area can be ascribed to the property.

Land district

The 'Land district' refers to the land registry office where a title was registered. There are twelve land districts, and the new Landonline option for documents that have been entered directly into the Landonline system.

Legal description

The legal description is used to identify a piece of land. Some legal descriptions are too large to be displayed on the Property summary screen.

To successfully locate property, field one, three and four must be completed.

Field one: Land district - This field indicates the registry office where the certificate of title is registered.

Field two: Parcel no. - This field is made up of alphanumeric characters.

This field excludes the parcel type, e.g. Lot, Unit.

Field three: Plan type - Common abbreviations for this field include:

Field four: Plan no. - This field is made up of alphanumeric characters.

Examples:
A property in Wellington has the following legal description - Lot 7A DP 52367. This would be entered as follows:

A property in Otago has the following legal description - Sec 48 Moeraki SD. This would be entered as follows:

M

Maori land

Shows whether the property is Maori owned land. This field can be either Y (yes), N (no) or M (Maori).

Meshblock

A meshblock is the smallest geographical unit for which statistical data is collected and processed by Statistics New Zealand. Although geographically defined, they do vary in size. A meshblock, therefore, will roughly include the closest sixty or so properties to the selected property.

N

Nature of improvements

The nature of the improvements refers to the types of buildings on a property and is given in abbreviated form. Common abbreviations are:

Net sale price

The figure displayed is the figure advised via the Notice of Sale as required by the Rating Act 1988 and is for land and buildings only. It therefore does not include chattels or other considerations. (The Net Sale price includes Goods & Services Tax (GST) if it has been paid. See Goods & Services Tax). Net sale price is shown in whole dollars only. Where a net sale price range is required the "end" figure must equal or be greater than the "start" figure.

Next rating value due

See Rating value date

O

Owner (as shown on the certificate of title)

This shows the names of the owner as registered on the certificate of title.

Owner / Occupier

These fields display the name of the occupier(s)/owner(s) within the meaning of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002. Owners/occupiers’ names of rateable properties changed after 29 April 2003 will no longer be available from councils and will no longer be displayed on the QV website. This will most commonly happen when a property is sold, but will also happen when there are other reasons for change.

Outstanding activity

This field denotes whether or not there are any Building Consents, Subdivisions or Objections outstanding on the property being viewed. This field will either contain a yes or no. Where a yes is displayed the details shown on the property do not take into account that outstanding activity.

Ownership

The ownership field describes the type of ownership and will display the applicable category from the list below for the property being viewed.

P

Plan type

The plan type is the first component that makes up the reference to a survey plan. There are three main plan types:

Prior title reference

This contains the prior title reference, if applicable.

Property category codes

See category codes.

Property ID. (QPID)

This is QV’s reference number for the property

Q

QV House Price Index

The Quarterly House Price Index (QHPI) is an index used to measure the movement in house prices over time. The index takes into account the ‘Average Sale Price’ in relation to the ‘Average Capital Value’ of properties sold, as well as the volume of sales within that area. This index is only aggregated and published for areas where there are sufficient sales to provide confidence in the output.

See FAQ’s for more answers about the QV House Price Index.

QV Price Index annual percentage change

The annual percentage change in the QV House Price Index.

See FAQ’s for more answers about the QV House Price Index.

R

Rateability

The rateability field describes the rateability for a property and will display the applicable category from the list below for the property being viewed.

Rating value date

The rating value date is the date at which the rating values are assessed. Each Local Council has one rating value date applying to all its properties, often referred to as revision date. If a new improvement or subdivision is done after this date, it will be assessed as at the revision date to maintain uniformity.

The property summary screen for each property shows the current rating value date for the property, as well as when the next rating value is due to be done.

Region

The `region’ field refers to the either the regional/Unitary council representing the property on which you wish to enquiry or a general regional area.

Please refer to the maps in the Regional and Territorial authority boundaries section of the User Guide for indication of region boundaries.

Register type

Indicates the type of register the title is contained in.

Roll number

This forms part of a property’s Valuation Reference Number. For administrative convenience it is desirable that blocks of assessments be grouped together. These groupings are called rolls and each roll has a unique five-digit number.

When requesting a range of roll numbers the end number must be equal to or greater than the start number.

Roof construction

See construction.

S

Sales classification

The two sales classification codes displayed in a Property sales information screen breaks down as follows:

Sales Classification one

First digit - Tenure (all property categories)

Second digit - Price/value relation

Sales Classification two

The following digits only apply to the following category codes: D, P, A, H, S, F & M.

First digit - Buyer/seller relation

Second digit - Buyer type

Third digit - Ownership type

Fourth digit - Farm status from buyer standpoint

Fifth digit - Farm status from vendor standpoint

Sale date

This is the date when agreement was reached on the sale consideration and is generally accepted as being the date when an offer to purchase becomes unconditional. The sale date is usually that advised to the Valuer-General as required by the Sec 106, Rating Powers Act 1988. Sale date should not be confused with the date when the property was offered for sale, possession given or settlement made. Sales are not registered on the database until transfer has actually taken place.

Sale date is keyed into the various selection/search fields in the form of DD/MM/YYYY. For example: 1st June 1992 is entered as 01/06/1992 or 31st December 1986 is entered as 31/12/1986.

When entering a range the "end" date must equal or be more recent than the "start" date.

Sale type

The descriptors are:

Sales groups

Sales Groups are a group of roll numbers that define a geographic area used for rating valuation purposes.

Settlement date

The date the full amount of consideration is paid in return for ownership of the property. Also referred to as the ‘Possession Date’.

Site

This denotes the main level floor area of the principle structure and is given in square metres rounded to the nearest 10 square metres. It will not include any garaging, decking or subsequent levels of the structure.

Special values

The Rating Valuation Act 1998 and the Rating Powers Act 1988 provide for the determination of special values for certain classes of property under given circumstances. Users are advised to consult the Acts for specific details. Contact the local authority relevant to the property in question for details.

Street name

The street name the search is carried out on is exactly what you input. Where a street runs across a Local Authority boundary the street will appear in two separate places and each will contain only those properties within the respective Local Authority. Where no street number is allocated or known, details will appear at the start of a particular street listing.

Street number

This is entered as numbers only. Additional alphabetic identifiers such as A, B, C, D are invalid for flats/units. If a property consists of 3 flats (A, B & C) then details on each flat will be given in the form of an index screen from which you can then select to view the specific record for say, number 54B. When typing a range of street numbers, the "end" number must equal or be greater than the "start" number.

Suffix

This forms part of a property’s Valuation Reference Number and consists of one or two alphabetic characters starting at "A" and running through as far as necessary towards "ZZ"". The Suffix is used primarily for extension records. An extension record occurs when an assessment contains either a separate rating apportionment or separate valuations relating to cross-leased properties.

If you do not enter this field and there are suffixed assessments for the roll and assessment numbers you input then, you will be shown only the parent property details.

Survey number

The survey number is the second component that makes up a survey plan reference. This field is usually numerical only but there are a few instances where the survey number contains a letter after the main survey number, e.g. DP 999999A

T

Tenure

The tenure field describes the type of tenure and will display the applicable category from the list below for the property being viewed.

Territorial authority (TA)

The Territorial authority field refers to the City or District Council that levies rates on the property / properties you are looking for.

Title number

See Certificate of title number

Trees value

The value of any trees is not included in any valuation under the Rating Valuation Act 1998 unless the trees are fruit trees, nut trees, vines, berryfruit bushes, or live hedges.

U

Units

This denotes the total number of independent units of use on the property and can generally be used as indicative of the number of separate dwellings on the property.

Examples: A block of flats comprising five rental units would be listed at having five units of use. A farm property where a second house occupied independently of the farming operation would be listed as having two units of use.

Use

This denotes the actual use(s) made of the property at the date of valuation.

Full code descriptions

V

Valuation reference

Each property has a unique number consisting of three parts: E.g.: 16900/51200 - A

Roll Number (Up to eleven digits)
Assessment Number (Up to eleven digits)
Suffix (Up to two alpha characters) [Optional]

Value of improvements

"Value of improvements" means the added value, which at the date of valuation the improvements give to land. Improvements are essentially buildings, other structures & landscaping.

It is determined by deducting the land value from the capital value.

Improvements added or removed since the date of valuation may not be reflected in the figure displayed. The values shown are those as at the date of valuation.

Vendor/purchaser

The vendor name is always given first and is separated from the buyer name by an oblique "/".

Vendor/purchaser names will not be displayed on sales records from 29/04/2003.

W

Wall construction

See construction.

Z

Zone

This denotes the operative zoning or designation on the local authority district scheme as at the date of the last valuation.

If a further zoning detail is required we suggest you consult the district scheme applicable.

* Please contact you Local Council if you require more information about the zoning for properties with the zone codes 3 and 6.