Expert advice

David Crerar [B.Surv.DipHort.NCH, Licensed Cadastral Surveyor] has been a Registered Professional Surveyor ( R.P.Surv) since 1991.

David has a Bachelor of Surveying from Otago University. This is a 4 year specialised degree in addition to a minimum of 2 years post-graduate work and exams before the Survey Board of NZ (to gain R.P.Surv status).

Only surveyors with the R.P.Surv can design, supervise and sign off public drainage engineering works by the Auckland Council.

We also have to complete continuing education to keep up to date with all aspects of surveying and land development.

At Spacelink Surveyors Ltd we continually strive to provide great professional service to our clients and uphold a high level of integrity that also is required under R.P.Surv.

We have a broad and specific knowledge of all matters dealing with land development and subdivisions, including practical, specific engineering, and legal advice.

We also can rationalize all projects, and generally the simple approach proves to be the best solution.

Topographical Surveys

Whether you are doing building alterations to an existing house, building on a vacant lot, or subdividing a site, the Topo Survey is always the first point of action.

Accurate and detailed information on the site is required by your architect or engineer to avoid any inaccuracies that will be subsequently costly to mitigate.

We’ll provide you with a CAD (dwg file) containing all the relevant information. The topographical survey is presented in the form of a plan showing the measured data and legal boundaries.

A topographic survey (topo) is the accurate mapping of the sites existing ground and permanent features such as buildings, concrete areas, significant trees, utility services etc.

The detail of the topographical survey will depend on the proposed activity for the site.

Boundary pegs (Boundary Reinstatement Surveys)

If you are planning to build a new fence, or any building or structure near the boundary, you will want to have boundary pegs put in.

It may be the case that you are having a dispute with your neighbour regarding the above factors and need to formally locate the boundary. You’ll require capable professionals to enact this, namely the team at Spacelink Surveyors.

A boundary survey is used to legally define and mark on the ground the site’s boundary points.

While some dubious surveyors will put in boundary pegs without a record lodged with Land Information NZ (LINZ), it is a legal requirement under the Cadastral Surveys Act 2010 to lodge a Boundary Reinstatement Survey Plan or Monumentation Plan with LINZ.

It then becomes a public record and will solve any boundary problems have materialised.

Building Set-Out Survey and Siting Certificate.

Before your builder can set-out the building profiles, Auckland Council will want a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor to set-out the house from the approved building consent plans.

Building set-out is an important part of the construction phase of any development.

It is critical that the position of the building as shown on the council approved plans are accurately transferred onto the ground.

We can set-out the position of the building and provide certification along with a set-out plan that is sent to the client and shown to the building inspector.

Auckland Council always insist on a Siting Certificate, unless boundary pegs are easily found and accurately located.

Height to Boundary Survey and Checks.

Auckland Council in Unitary Plan Standards have rules that will help any development protect the amount of daylight or view available to a neighbouring property.

The standards within the Auckland Unitary Plan relating buildings to the site’s boundary are different for the different zones.

Its purpose is to manage and maintain a reasonable level of sunlight and to minimise adverse visual effects for immediate neighbours.

The council will require new buildings to be checked by a professionally qualified surveyor (Licensed Cadastral Surveyor) to ensure that what has been constructed is the same as what had been proposed in the design plans.

The information in the initial topographical survey is helpful to this being certified as the original ground level heights are used in the survey and calculation.

We provide the Height to Boundary Certification and calculation that is required by Auckland Council as part of the Resource Consent Monitoring Program, or as required by the Building Inspection (part of the Building Consent).

Cross-lease updates or conversion to freehold titles.

The main feature of a cross-lease is that the underlying land of the entire block is owned in common and the area of the house is leased for a significant time (999 years).

However any significant alterations require the cross-lease title to be updated. At Spacelink Surveyors we are happy to provide a quote to do.

Cross-leases are a throw-back to the 1970’s predominantly originating in Auckland as a means of avoiding paying Council development contribution and keeping costs down to divide the land.

There are now over 100,000 cross-lease titles in Auckland alone as initially everyone flocked to this form of land development.

There are a raft of problems with cross-leasing due to joint ownership and alterations requiring neighbour’s consent. These days the council has tidied up all loop holes that gave cross-leases the right to pay less council development fees. There is now no point in creating a new cross-lease.

CONVERSION OF CROSS-LEASE TO FREEHOLD SUBDIVISION-AUCKLAND COUNCIL.

Still this can be a difficult process as Council do not accept the existing cross-lease situation and tries to evaluate according to current engineering standards.

This means you may have to upgrade the existing concrete shared driveway, and any drainage that is not to scratch.

A costly exercise for the thousands of cross-leases, many of which are causing dispute problems for the adjoining landowners.

However the best idea is to get an evaluation from us on your conversion project, and you have consent from all owners to do so.

Engineering surveys to set-out new manholes, drainage and Rights of Way gradients and alignment.

We can set-out any construction work that has design plans , that is required by drainlayers and other contractors.

Subdivision Lodgement of surveys to Land Information New Zealand

Once the subdivision consent has been issued and the Surveyors’ Scheme Plan has been signed off by Auckland Council the next step is to have the Land Transfer Plan prepared and the Section 223 applied for to Auckland Council.

We generally do this when all issues have been resolved and the client wants to move forward to complete the subdivision process, as once the S223 is signed by Council there is a 3 year time period to complete the subdivision work and have the Section 224c ready for the solicitor.

Only Licenced Cadastral Surveyors can complete this work.

Through the historical survey records in New Zealand there is a complex network of old survey marks that have been digitized by Land Information NZ into a database called Land-On-Line. Once we have completed all our survey calculations, we link our new survey into the Land-On-Line database that will digitize all new boundary peg locations.

The new Certificate of Title is referenced and dependent to the new Land Transfer Survey through your solicitor.

The whole process is well understood by Licensed Cadastral Surveyors and at Spacelink Surveyors we take pride in our quality or work and professionalism, knowing that the decisions we make become permanent throughout this entire process.