Legal descriptions, Lot, Deposited Plan (DP) and Valuation Roll

Legal Description or Appellation

Land has been numbered and named differently in each Land District over time. Thus, locating land by its historical legal description depends on its Land District and the type of land being dealt with. Some examples include:

• ‘Section 1 Block VII Mata Survey District’ for Crown land

• ‘Kaiti 313A6B2’ for Māori Land

• ‘Section 1019-1022 Town of Christchurch’ for land in a town

Each of these depends on the way the land was historically recorded and described.

The commonly used terms to describe the land are parcels (such as Lots) and plan types (such as Deposited Plan or Survey Office plan).

Under the current land transfer system, each parcel of land is described as a Lot on a DP (Deposited Plan). For example, Lot 123 DP4567 (the 123rd lot on Deposited Plan 4567).

You can find legal descriptions on the Certificate of Title of the land, rating valuation notices or rates demands. You can also search maps on some local council websites. Rating rolls, held by some city and district councils, also list the history of legal descriptions for properties.

Lot Number

A lot is a term to describe a parcel of land relative to a specific type of plan. For example Lot 123 DP4567.

Deposited Plan (DP)

Sometimes also known as a ‘Title Plan’, these are plans recording land transfer subdivisions that have been deposited by the Registrar-General of Land. They are identified by a number and a DP prefix such as ‘DP 12345’. Most modern land transfers are identified by their position on a specific deposited plan. For example Lot 123 DP 4567.

This is the plan deposited when the title was created. This could be a simple plan of the property's boundaries, area and dimensions, a detailed survey plan or a combination of both.

Valuation Roll number

Rating valuations are set for the purpose of determining property values across a district. These are the values that the council uses to set council rates and a revaluation is done every three years. Valuations are determined by house sale prices on a specific date.

You can find your valuation number on your rating valuation notice or rates demands.

Source: Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand and licensed by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.