The Treasury on behalf of the Crown can surrender or transfer an easement held in the name of a removed company.
To make an application, please provide the following:
- A statutory declaration by a director of the removed company ("the Company") (or someone else associated with the Company) at the time the Company was struck off which includes:
1.1 details of the circumstances surrounding the lodging of the easement;
1.2 details of the circumstances surrounding the removal of the Company without first transferring or surrendering the easement;
1.3 a declaration that the Company held the easement in its own right and not on trust for any other body corporate or any other person; and
1.4 if a surrender of the easement is being sought, a declaration that the rights secured by the easement are no longer necessary.
If you are unable to locate anyone associated with the Company at the time it was removed we may accept a statutory declaration from someone else with knowledge of the matter. However, their statutory declaration will also need to include details of the steps taken to contact the former director(s) of the Company. - An application form requesting the Crown deal with the matter pursuant to the relevant section of the Companies Act 1993 or the Companies Act 1955, together with an indemnity from the applicant in favour of the Crown in respect of all or any liability that may be incurred by the Crown in respect of actions taken in obtaining a transfer or surrender of the easement.
- A copy of the easement filed in the Land Transfer Office and a copy of the certificate of title to which the easement relates.
- In the case of a surrender, evidence that the rights secured by the easement are no longer necessary (where possible).
- Extracts from the Companies Office for the Company showing when it was registered and when it was removed.
- Your undertaking to pay our fee ($400 inclusive of GST) and to reimburse any advertising costs and other disbursements we need to incur in connection with this matter. We are entitled to recover our costs pursuant to section 75(2) of the Public Finance Act 1989.
Provided that we find the above documents to be satisfactory we will execute an application to the District Land Registrar to have the easement registered in favour of the Crown together with either a surrender or transfer of the easement. These documents will then be forwarded to you and will need to be registered electronically. We will provide an Authority and Instruction form in favour of the registering law firm to allow this to occur.
As an alternative to seeking a surrender or transfer of the easement by the Crown you may also wish to consider an application to restore the Company to the register. In some circumstances this can be a faster and cheaper process than seeking a surrender or transfer. For more information, see How to deal with property of a company removed from the Companies Register.
Template forms of the statutory declaration and the application and indemnity are available below.
Templates
Statutory Declaration - Easement (Word, 28KB)
Application and Indemnity - Easement (Word, 28KB)
If you have any specific questions not covered, please email [email protected].