After Part 4 searches had been carried out at the Māori Land Court I learnt that in 1967 an uncle of mine had appeared at the Māori Land Court and had succeeded to some interests in the name of his mother and father (my grandparents).
If you know that Christopher's block is, for example, Ruamata , but aren’t sure how his name is spelt, you can enter Christoper Crbb into the Owner Name search field and Ruamata into the Land Block Name search field to narrow the results.
That seems simple enough. However, how does the Court assess compliance with the statutory criteria?
The Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025 introduces new provisions that allow owners of Māori land and water service providers to appeal to the Māori Land Court over decisions about access to Māori land for water infrastructure.
The Māori Land Court’s role is to identify all successors and their relative beneficial interests by identifying all persons entitled to succeed to the interest of an original beneficiary in SILNA lands: (a) As though the land was Māori freehold land; and (b) As though the deceased person died intestate (applying the principles of s 109 of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (TTWMA)).
Te Puna Manawa Whenua is written by Māori Land Court judges. It is overseen by a judicial editing komiti, comprised of Māori Land Court judges, supported by legal research counsel from the Māori Land Court.
The Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025 introduces new provisions that allow owners of Māori land and water service providers to appeal to the Māori Land Court over decisions about access to Māori land for water infrastructure.
Important Note: If an undivided interest in land i.e. shares in a block is being transferred, section 148 of the Act requires the transferee to be a member of the preferred classes of alienees which comprise – • A child or remoter issue of the transferor. • Whanaunga who are associated in accordance with tikanga Māori with the land. • An owner in the land who is a member of the hapü associated with the land. • A trustee of a person belonging to 1 to 3 above. • A de...
That provides a great deal of protection because the land cannot be sold or gifted away. Nor can the land be taken by way of an agreement under the Public Works Act 1981.
The new mediation provisions give the Court and Māori land owners a grand opportunity to define how we will resolve differences for the benefit of whānau, hapū and iwi.
