The land governance cost on co-ownership: A study of the cross-lease in New Zealand

• Cheung, K.S. ^[1] ; Wong, S.K. ^[2] ; Wu, H. ^[3] ; Yiu, C.Y. ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Auckland

     University of Auckland

     Nueva Zelanda

     
  2. [2] University of Hong Kong

     University of Hong Kong

     RAE de Hong Kong (China)

     
  3. [3] University of Melbourne

     University of Melbourne

     Australia

     

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• Localización: Land use policy: The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use, ISSN 0264-8377, ISSN-e 1873-5754, Nº. 108, 2021
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Higher land-use intensity can be achieved by subdividing the land or by subdividing the structure built on it. The former avoids co-ownership but is subject to topographical constraints, whereas the latter (e.g. apartment units) uses each unit of land more efficiently but entails management of the common parts. This study examines a hybrid approach to subdivision, known as “cross-lease” in New Zealand, where land is co-owned, and each co-owner singly and separately holds his or her structure (a detached or semi-detached house) through a very long lease. The delineation of boundaries and the maintenance of communal resources relies on self-governance. From the owners’ perspective, how well does the self-governance of cross-lease work, as compared to government regulation of unit titles? Based on preferences revealed by property transactions, cross-lease is found to trade at a price discount of 0.42% per owner relative to unit titles of property of equivalent quality. Moreover, the discount increases with the number of owners sharing the land. Self-governance is, therefore, more costly than government regulation when there are multiple co-owners, making monitoring and conflict resolution difficult.