Dear Land Information New Zealand,

Under the Official Information Act I wish to request the following information.

The Oversea Investment Act requires that only New Zealand, Australian and Singaporean citizens can purchase residential land in New Zealand with New Zealand residents needing to show that they are ordinary residents of New Zealand or have the intention to be. What level of enforcement is applied to ensure all residential property transfers adheres to this requirement. Is there an enforcement team that checks property transfer documentation and what is the size of this team. I am concerned that this system is purely based on honesty by the person completing the paper work. Does LINZs liase with Inturnal Affairs and Immigration New Zealand to check on the citizenship and immigration status of individuals. Is there a system in place to cross reference Ird numbers, passport or visa numbers to check compliance.

Lastly, what are the total number of investigations for each year over the past three years relating to purchase of a property by a person in breach or suspected breaching the requirements to be an eligible purchaser under the overseas investment act.

Yours faithfully,

Adam Irish