As a manager of the Crown’s property, we’re constantly reviewing our property portfolios to make sure New Zealand gets the best use from them.
Disposing of property
Ensuring ‘best use’ sometimes involves disposing of property that is surplus to the Crown’s requirements. To do this we follow government policies and legal processes, which involves checking whether the property is needed by other Crown agencies, offering the land for sale back to its former owner, offering it for sale to certain iwi under Treaty settlement obligations (or the Māori Protection Mechanism) and then selling the property on the open market.
We follow processes to dispose of property, and to accredit the suppliers who manage these processes on our behalf.
Acquiring property under the Public Works Act 1981
As well as disposing of property, we also frequently acquire property from private landowners for the Crown’s public works. While we must try to reach agreement with landowners, we have statutory powers to acquire land compulsorily under the Public Works Act 1981. You can learn about this process and landowners’ entitlements in this section.
Whether we’re acquiring or disposing of land, we work hard to take into account the interests of New Zealanders. For us, that means recognising that the value of land is the sum of economic, environmental and social factors.