Covenant Instrument 13089567.5

Registered against the land at Arrow Junction is an instrument numbered 13089567.5. It is a covenant. On the published record it is a single line of small type, and it is capable of mattering more than anything else on this site.

This article examines documents, not motives. Where the record is silent, we say so.

What a covenant instrument is

A covenant is a promise about land that is recorded against the title rather than made between two people. That is its entire significance: because it is registered, it does not end when the land is sold. It runs with the land and binds the next owner, and the one after that.

Covenants restrict what may be done with land. Depending on their terms they can limit what may be built, how much of it, where, in what form, to what standard, or whether the land may be subdivided at all. Some protect a view or a landscape character. Some protect an adjoining owner. Some record an obligation to a public body. All of them are enforceable by whoever holds the benefit of them.

The instrument number is how the register identifies it, and it is how anyone can retrieve it. The number is the thing we can state with confidence.

Why an instrument number matters

An instrument number is a promise that the document is retrievable. It means the covenant is not a rumour, not a recollection and not a characterisation — it is a filed document with a fixed text that exists in one form and can be read by anyone who obtains it.

That is why this article is classified as a Primary Document even though we are not quoting its contents. The classification describes the nature of the source, not the depth of our reading of it. See How We Classify Evidence for why we draw that line where we do.

What we can say, and what we cannot

We can say the reference. We can say what class of document it is. We can say which land it is registered against — the Arrow Junction titles RT 1174253 and RT 1174254, over the land in DP 601937, dealt with in our article on the records of title.

We cannot yet say what it provides. We have not published its text and we will not paraphrase a document we have not put in front of the reader — [Source to be added]. The difference between "a covenant is registered" and "the covenant prohibits X" is the difference between a fact and an allegation, and this site does not blur it.

Nor will we characterise anyone's conduct in relation to it. A registered covenant is a fact about land. It is not evidence of anybody's state of mind, and no inference about intention is drawn here or anywhere on this site.

Why this one is on our list

Because of what covenants do. Three questions follow from the mere existence of this instrument, and each of them is answerable from the document itself:

• What does 13089567.5 restrict, and over which parcels within DP 601937?
• Who holds the benefit of it, and whose consent would be needed to modify or remove it?
• Is the proposed development consistent with its terms as registered, and if not, what is proposed about that?

Those are not accusations. They are the ordinary questions a purchaser's solicitor asks on day one, and the public is entitled to the same answers when 1,200 dwellings are proposed on the land.

What happens next

This entry stays as it is until the instrument text is published on this site in full. When it is, this article will be updated, the classification will stay Primary Document, and any change of substance will be recorded on Corrections & Right of Response rather than edited in silently. The document record is assembled on Property & Development Timeline.

Ridgeburn Limited, Morven Ferry Limited and any person with an interest in the instrument may respond in full under our standing right of response.

Evidence statement

Classification: Primary Document

Status: Register reference stated. The instrument text has not been obtained or published by us, and nothing is asserted about its terms.

Author: Ridgeburn Press · Evidence Desk

Last reviewed: 16 September 2026

Sources

1. Covenant Instrument 13089567.5, public land register — [Source to be added]
2. Records of Title RT 1174253 and RT 1174254, public land register — [Source to be added]

Assumptions

• The description of what covenants do in general is a description of the class of instrument, not of this one.
• A copy of the instrument as registered has not been supplied to us — [Awaiting client evidence]

What is not established

• The terms of instrument 13089567.5.
• Which parcels within DP 601937 it burdens, and who holds the benefit.
• Whether the proposal is consistent with it.
• Any intention, knowledge or conduct of any party in relation to it.

Right of response

Ridgeburn Limited, Queenstown Lakes District Council and any person named here may respond in full. How to respond.