A failed attempt to change Māori freehold land to General land

A recent decision of the Māori Land Court declined an application to change the status of land from Māori freehold land to General land. This is a reminder of what previous cases have confirmed, that the court will only exercise this power when there are extraordinary circumstances.

In this case, there was a piece of Māori freehold land surrounded by General land. The applicant wanted to change the status of the land in the middle so that he could divide it and use it for housing his whānau. He said that this required the status of the land to be changed so he could secure adequate finance over it and develop housing blocks.

The applicant did not provide enough information for the Court to find that the land would be better utilised as General land, which is a requirement under s 136 of the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993. He also failed to provide sufficient detail about how the land would be developed, or evidence to show that his proposal to develop housing had been rejected for lending by a bank on the basis of the piece of land being Māori freehold land.

The lack of vital information led the Court to find that there was not sufficient evidence to show that the land could be managed or utilised more effectively as General land. The application was therefore dismissed.

This is a reminder of the high threshold that a case needs to pass before the Court will exercise its discretion to change Māori freehold land to General land.

This process is not straight forward and landowners should seek advice from a professional experienced in this area before making an application.