Law Corner

09/06/2026

You can start your home ownership journey before you find your new home, and the best place to start is your finances.

You can obtain pre-approval for your KiwiSaver withdrawal and mortgage finance before you make an offer on the house of your dreams. While this is not full finance approval, being pre-approved usually means your new lending can be completed fairly quickly after your offer is accepted. Finance pre-approvals are usually valid for up to 2-3 months.

We recommend working with a mortgage advisor early on, to help you work through these early steps and give you confidence when you are ready to make your offer.

01/06/2026

Many landlords are having to top up mortgage payments on their rental, as well as paying their own mortgage. Luke at Keep The Change runs through example figures and some of the tax changes over the past 15 years that have influenced how investors are taxed. Before you buy an investment property, it's important to check your potential cashflow and get accounting advice.

Using Luke's example on a weekly basis:
$1,000 rent received per week
- $673 mortgage (interest only)
- $192 expenses (e.g. property management, rates, insurance, accountant)
= $135 profit per week liable for tax
- $40 potential tax liability (based on an individual at a 30% tax rate)
= $95 per week available to put towards debt repayments and property improvements. However, standard principal payments on a $600,000 mortgage debt would be about $248 per week, meaning this landlord will be paying at least $153 from their own pocket each week.

27/05/2026

How cool are these?? Maybe we should get one for the office. That would certainly brighten things up and get people talking 😂

27/05/2026

Brrrrr! Winter is coming. But first, another long weekend. Who can complain about that? 😉

This is your reminder that we will be closed on Monday for King's Birthday. Keep warm, keep safe, and to everyone who worked hard to be able to move house this weekend - enjoy!!

19/05/2026

Welcome to our part of Marton Team Lewis Innovation Real Estate Ltd Licensed REAA 2008! 🤩

18/05/2026

Mortgagee sales always come with a bit of a gulp, don't they? It's the worst case scenario that no one really wants to think about when putting a mortgage against their home.

It's important to note that mortgagee sales are not treated lightly. The facts in this story show a familiar pattern with the home owner failing to pay its debts and avoiding making payment arrangements for several years. https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360979362/auckland-council-liquidates-company-over-five-years-unpaid-rates

If you are struggling to meet your loans, rates, or insurance on your property, a mortgagee sale is not the only way out. Come talk with us, your bank, or a budget advisor as early as possible to discuss your options.

Te Atatū house owner owed council $37,000 before the High Court stepped in and liquidators were appointed.

13/05/2026

Making an offer on a property and the real estate agent just told you it will be a multi offer? When two or more people are ready to make an offer at the same time, out of fairness to everyone the offers are all presented to the vendor (seller) together. The vendor might accept one of the offers, refuse all of them, or try to negotiate further.

Multi offers make all the stakes seem so much higher. No one can tell you anything about the other offers. To get the best chances of having your offer accepted, you will be advised to put your best foot forward. Many people worry at this point that their budget just won't be enough to beat the other offers, but there's more to a good offer than price.

What else can help your offer outshine the rest?

🧐 settlement date - for example an early date or flexibility.

🧐 shorter dates for confirming your conditions - for example you can check with your building inspector how long they need instead of going with a conservative 15 working days.

🧐 fewer conditions - ask your mortgage advisor if they can approve finance for your offer before you sign (please note this is different from pre-approval, which does not take the property into account).

🧐 title checks - have us check the draft offer and the property title before completing your offer. We endeavour to complete these checks as quickly as possible for you so you can be fully informed before you proceed.

06/05/2026

We've been working on something exciting! Introducing our new Home Buyers Series/Home Sellers Series with key information to help you at different stages along the way.

Want to get started? Hit up our inbox if you would like one!

04/05/2026

What does a lawyer do? - "sue people!"
That's how Teresa's interactive discussion began at a local high school's careers evening recently. She discussed different areas of law, the path through university to become a lawyer, and alternative career pathways in the legal system. It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase how rewarding a career in law can be to the younger members of our community. Thanks for the opportunity to chat! We wish you all the best in making plans for your futures after school ⚖