Forestry Rights Registration Act 1983

The Forestry Rights Registration Act 1983 is designed to provide for the creation and registration of forestry rights.

In business terms, it helps where tree-growing rights need to be separated from ordinary land ownership. A common example is where one party owns the land and another party will plant, maintain or harvest the trees.

It can also be used where a landowner sells land but wants to reserve rights to an existing or future crop of trees. That makes the Act relevant to rural sales, forestry joint ventures, long-term harvesting arrangements and some project finance structures.

The Act says a forestry right may be created by the proprietor of land. The proprietor may create the right for themselves, grant it to another person, or reserve it on the sale of the land.

For this Act, proprietor includes the owner, the lessee, or the holder of a deferred payment licence for the land under the Land Act 1948.

The core right is the right to establish, maintain and harvest, or to maintain and harvest, a crop of trees on that land. The definition of crop is broad. It covers a single crop, multiple crops, or plantings with the same or different expected harvest dates.

The Act allows more than just the right to grow and harvest trees. A forestry right may also grant or reserve rights of access and rights to construct and use tracks, culverts, bridges, buildings, and other works and facilities.

Those extra rights are not unlimited. They must be ancillary to and necessary for the forestry purpose described in the Act. That means the access and works rights should be tied to the forestry operation, not used as a general land use package.

The Act also allows the right to provide for charges, payments, royalties, or division of the crop or the proceeds of the crop. It also refers specifically to the right to receive and the obligation to surrender units.

The Act says every forestry right is deemed to be a profit a prendre. It may be registered under the Land Transfer Act 2017 against the title of the estate of the owner of the land, in the same manner as a profit a prendre, subject to any modifications prescribed by regulations.

That matters because registration can make the right visible on title. For long-term projects, that can be important when land is sold, refinanced, transferred within a group, or reviewed by lenders and buyers.

The Act also says that every forestry right, when executed by the parties signing it, has the force and effect of a deed.

The Act gives a practical registration shortcut for boundaries. Instead of complying with the usual surveyed boundary requirement under the Land Transfer Act 2017, an applicant for registration of a forestry right may indicate the boundaries by reference to a diagram or an aerial photograph.

That can make registration more workable for forestry projects over large or irregular rural areas. But the Act also says no action lies against the Crown under the relevant Land Transfer Act compensation provisions in respect of a boundary not defined to the usual standard.

The proprietor or holder can later deposit a plan under the Land Transfer Act 2017. The plan must define the area or areas mutually agreed by the proprietor and the holder. Once deposited, it supersedes the earlier diagram or aerial photograph to the relevant extent.

After that, the Registrar may amend parcel descriptions and endorse the relevant record of title, lease, or licence to show that the boundaries, or the boundaries that are defined, have been surveyed.

The Act also deals with land where no record of title has been issued under the Land Transfer Act 2017. In that situation, the holder may request the Registrar-General of Land to register the forestry right under section 5A.

At the holder's request, the Registrar-General of Land must create a record of title for the forestry right. But there is an important condition. No record of title may be issued unless a licensed cadastral surveyor certifies that the land to which the forestry right relates is within the boundaries of a parcel of land identified on a plan lodged in the office of the Surveyor-General or Registrar-General of Land.

A forestry right registered under section 5A runs with and binds the land to which it relates and is deemed to be an interest in land for the purposes of the Land Transfer Act 2017.

The Act recognises forestry covenants. A forestry covenant means a covenant, whether positive or restrictive in effect, contained in a forestry right registered under the Land Transfer Act 2017, or in a registered variation of that right.

Unless the document says otherwise, the covenant binds the covenantor's heirs, executors, administrators, and assignees. That is useful for long-term forestry projects where obligations need to continue beyond the original signatories.

In practice, this can support ongoing arrangements about access, maintenance, use of works, operational restrictions, or other project terms that the parties want tied to the registered forestry right.

The Act contains two useful deeming rules. First, for the purposes of the Resource Management Act 1991, the creation of a forestry right is deemed not to be a subdivision of the proprietor's land.

Second, any right of access created as ancillary to a forestry right over the proprietor's land is deemed not to be the creation of a right of way under section 348 of the Local Government Act 1974.

These rules are helpful, but they are narrow. They deal with the specific points stated in the Act. They do not remove the need to check other planning, land use, environmental, operational, title, or contractual requirements that may apply to the wider forestry project.

Before using this Act for a forestry deal, focus on the trigger points that affect structure, registration and future enforceability.

This is a principal Act that is in force. The official legislation website records the latest version as at 23 December 2023.

The Act received assent on 29 November 1983 and came into force on 1 January 1984.