Guides

What a LIM tells you, in the law’s own words

A land information memorandum (LIM) is the council’s report on what it holds about a property. The law lists what it must contain. Here is that list, word for word, and what Lotline adds alongside it.

What a LIM is

You apply to the district or city council, and the council must issue the LIM within 10 working days. It reports the council’s own records for the property. Councils set their own fees: Selwyn District Council, for example, charges NZ$375 for a standard residential or rural LIM from 1 July 2026.

What the law says it must include

This is section 44A of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, as it reads today.

(1) A person may apply to a territorial authority for the issue, within 10 working days, of a land information memorandum in relation to matters affecting any land in the district of the authority.

(2) The matters which shall be included in that memorandum are—

(a) the information about natural hazards that is required by section 44B:

(aa) information about other special features or characteristics of the land concerned, including information about the likely presence of hazardous contaminants, that—

(i) is known to the territorial authority; but

(ii) is not apparent from a district plan under the Resource Management Act 1991:

(b) information on private and public stormwater and sewerage drains as shown in the territorial authority's records:

(bb) information on—

(i) whether the land is supplied with drinking water and if so, whether the supplier is the owner of the land or a drinking water supplier:

(ii) if the land is supplied with drinking water by a drinking water supplier, any conditions that are applicable to that supply:

(iii) if the land is supplied with water by the owner of the land, any information the territorial authority has about the supply:

(iv) any exemption that has been notified by the Water Services Authority to the territorial authority under section 57 of the Water Services Act 2021:

(c) information relating to any rates owing in relation to the land:

(ca) if the land concerned is located in a levy area that is subject to a levy order under the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act 2020, information about—

(i) the levy period:

(ii) how liability for a levy on the land is assessed:

(iii) amounts of any unpaid levy:

(cb) if the land concerned is located in a project area that is subject to a targeted rates order under the Urban Development Act 2020, information about—

(i) the financial years to which the order applies; and

(ii) how liability for targeted rates under that Act on the land is calculated; and

(iii) amounts of any unpaid targeted rates under that Act:

(d) information concerning any consent, certificate, notice, order, or requisition affecting the land or any building on the land previously issued by the territorial authority (whether under the Building Act 1991, the Building Act 2004, or any other Act):

(daa) information relating to non-consented small stand-alone dwellings:

(da) the information required to be provided to a territorial authority under section 362T(2) of the Building Act 2004:

(e) information concerning any certificate issued by a building certifier pursuant to the Building Act 1991 or the Building Act 2004:

(ea) information notified to the territorial authority under section 124 of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act 2006:

(f) information relating to the use to which that land may be put and conditions attached to that use:

(g) information which, in terms of any other Act, has been notified to the territorial authority by any statutory organisation having the power to classify land or buildings for any purpose:

(h) any information which has been notified to the territorial authority by any network utility operator pursuant to the Building Act 1991 or the Building Act 2004.

(3) In addition to the information provided for under subsection (2), a territorial authority may provide in the memorandum such other information concerning the land as the authority considers, at its discretion, to be relevant.

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, section 44A (Land information memorandum), as at 6 Jun 2026. Quoted word for word from the NZ Legislation API. Official text

A LIM speaks as at its date

The same section says what a LIM is evidence of:

(5) In the absence of proof to the contrary, a land information memorandum shall be sufficient evidence of the correctness, as at the date of its issue, of any information included in it pursuant to subsection (2).

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, section 44A (Land information memorandum), as at 6 Jun 2026. Quoted word for word from the NZ Legislation API. Official text

A LIM shows the council’s records on the day it was issued. If the seller gives you one, check its date. Whether to rely on it or order your own is a question for your lawyer.

What Lotline adds alongside it

Lotline reads national records, not the council’s file, and puts them in one dated report for the block:

Lotline is not a LIM and doesn’t replace one. Get the LIM too.

Check a block

Free: the road frontage finding for any rural or lifestyle block in New Zealand, by address or record of title.

Counts from Lotline’s national build of 29 Sep 2026. Records, not an inspection of the land.