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TRUST OPTIONS
From Aunty Rangi
November 2010
Hi Everyone
We had a meeting with Paul (Paora) Sherran, the liaison officer from the Maori Land Court. There had been a suggestion that if the Rangi Pepuere Whenua was made a reservation or a papakainga, there would be no rates to pay, or rates would be reduced. However, Paul has checked and unfortunately, we do not fit the criteria because;
1. Reservation Status only applies when the land is for the benefit of the wider community eg. A marae, sportsfield or church and not for a whanau only.
2. Papakainga is a loose term for a place where everyone lives usually a marae, or a group of houses on a block of land. Papakainga status is granted by the local council, but would not benefit us, as there are no rate concessions in Mahia. Reservations are dealt with by the Maori Land Court, Building approvals and environmental issues are dealt with by local councils.
We have 3 choices –
1. We form an Ahu Whenua Trust over the land by applying to the Maori Land Court with all the necessary documentation. Shares remain in individual names and are thus diluted with each succession eg. On my death, my shares would be divided into 4. Trustees would need to be appointed and a trust deed set up. If notes in the trust deed, the Trustees can issue a “licence to occupy” for individuals to build on land, and not necessary to go to the Maori Land Court, but still need to comply with council laws, restrictions and statutes. The deed need to stipulate that the trustees may issue licences to occupy, and it is wise to have the licence to occupy noted at the Maori Land Court, for future reference – it doesn’t cost to do this. If we intent to rent out the houses, that also needs to be noted in the trust deed.
2. Set up a whanau trust, which is a share management trust managing specified shares in Maori Land. The trust owns the shares and they become as one, with no further fragmenting of shares, as the trustees administer the shares. Trustees cannot issue “licences to occupy” and individuals need to apply to the Maori Land Court for an “occupation order” which lasts only 5 years in which to build, but extensions may be applied for.
3. Have no trust at all, seeing there are so few of us. We would need a deed or charter with rules etc and we can either select a committee or have a committee of all shareholders.
Can all shareholders and ‘interested parties’ please read through and discuss our choices, and let us know ASAP your thoughts on the subject. At this stage, we only require how many are in favour of 1. Ahu Whenua Trust or 2. Whanau Trust or 3. No Trust at all.
If either of the trust are selected by the majority, we need to do further work before applying to the Maori Land Court, so please keep numbers from shareholders separate to ‘interested parties’ as the court only recognizes shareholders, but would like input from the next generation. Applications to Maori Land Court take between 3-4 months from applying.
Let us all move forward together, in what is left of 2010 and into 2011 and forever. Thank you Tipuna for this beautiful piece of land. Help us to utilize it with wisdom and much aroha, so that it can be enjoyed and loved by each and everyone of us, and those in generations to come.
Aunty Rangi