If you’ve sold or purchased a property recently it’s likely that you’ve used the Auckland District Law Society and Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Standard Agreement for Sale and Purchase. That document is the gold standard in New Zealand – used comprehensively throughout the industry to cut down on the amount of hours needed by lawyers in the conveyancing process. It comes as big news then that the Agreement is set to be fully revised for the first time since 2012. At the end of November an update will be released – after almost 2 years of work.

The main focus of the changes are to bring the Agreement in line with the modern world we live in. Putting a focus on modern technology and just generally updating the terms. There are three main areas that will see changes in this new revision.

Disputes

The change here focuses on the grounds of compensation being widened from ‘mis-description’ to ‘misrepresentation’. That change effectively creates an expansion of the range of areas under which a claim for compensation (and interim determination) can be made if a dispute arises during the agreement.

GST

The IRD has been brought on board to help tidy up the GST clause to make it more practicable. There were previous issues with timing of GST payment and the new clause seeks to fix that.

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Email trumps fax

Lastly (and finally!) the agreement has altered to reflect the way we do business in 2019. Previously fax was noted as the primary method for notifying parties in the conveyancing process. That has now changed as the legal profession has finally caught up and made email that primary form of communication.