Lim report delay stress

Lengthy delays obtaining Lim reports in the Far North are causing major headaches for dozens of vendors, purchasers and real estate agents.

The Far North District Council is struggling to clear the backlog of property files it is in the process of digitising, causing delays of more than one month on top of the statutory 10 days for Lim reports to be delivered.

While they hope to get through an initial backlog by late February, a high number of requests for Lims caused by a buoyant property market means further delays are likely until the end of April, council says.

One Kerikeri real estate agent - who didn’t want to be named - says dozens of purchasers and vendors are affected, and his company is having to get numerous extensions.

‘‘We now have a number of clients and customers under huge stress as the run on impact is taking effect. A purchaser will not go unconditional until they get a Lim, and the vendor cannot confirm on the property they are wanting to move to. Buying a house is a very emotional decision anyway and this is adding another layer of stress.’’

Lim reports contain important information about a property including potential erosion, contamination, flooding, drainage and zoning. In accordance with the Local Government and Meetings Act, a Lim must be issued within 10 working days.

In November, the council sent 50,000 property and resource consent files to Christchurch to be scanned by a contractor so scanned records will be accessible via email and kiosks at its service centres.

Council chief executive Shaun Clarke says the logistics of moving the files, combined with technical issues at the contractors site ‘‘resulted in a much longer timeframe to turn around scans’’. More staff are working to clear the backlog of requests by the end of February but ‘‘we don’t expect to be able to issue Lim reports within 10 days until the end of April unless there is a significant downturn in Lim requests.’’

‘‘All customers who have had to wait for a Lim have been sent a personal apology and explanation of the situation, along with a new issue date. We have also worked to contact 200 regular customers and real estate agents, initially to warn them about the property file digitisation project and secondly to inform them of the delays.’’

A Kerikeri conveyancing firm sent a letter to more than a dozen agencies suggesting a proposed clause be added into agreements for up to 35 working days for Lim conditions to be met. A spokesperson for the firm says the delays were causing ‘‘a lot of frustration’’. One client ordered a Lim on February 5 and was told the estimated date they would receive it would be March 16, which equates to 28 working days.

‘‘It’s a massive issue for people trying to get building consents as well as trying to get hold of property files. In many cases it’s taking nearly three times as long as it should.’’