Reading a record of title: RT 1174253 and RT 1174254

Two records of title sit under the proposed development at Arrow Junction: RT 1174253 and RT 1174254. The land they describe is defined by Deposited Plan DP 601937. Between them, those three references are the most checkable facts on this entire site — and the most frequently over-read.

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

What a record of title is

New Zealand land is held under a public register. A record of title is the register's statement about one parcel of land: what the land is, what estate is held in it, who the registered owner is, and what interests are registered against it — mortgages, easements, covenants, and the other burdens and benefits that attach to land rather than to people.

It is a public document. That is the point of a register. Anyone may obtain a copy of a record of title by reference, for a small fee, and read exactly what the parties to the transaction read. There is no privileged access here and no leak: the retrieval process is set out on The Evidence — [Source to be added] for the current fee and retrieval route.

The two titles and the plan

Two titles, not one. That is worth noticing, because a development proposed across more than one title raises ordinary questions about how the parcels relate, whether they are to be amalgamated, and whether every interest registered against each of them has been accounted for.

DP 601937 is the survey plan that defines the parcels the titles describe. A deposited plan is geometry: boundaries, areas, easements in gross, and the identifiers the titles then refer to. It is the document that tells you what land is actually being talked about, which is why we cite it alongside the titles rather than instead of them.

Registered against that land is Covenant Instrument 13089567.5, dealt with separately in its own article, because a covenant can do more to constrain a development than any amount of argument about amenity.

What a title shows

• The legal description of the land, tied to the deposited plan.
• The estate held — freehold, leasehold, or otherwise.
• The registered proprietor as at the date of search.
• The interests registered against the land, each with its own instrument number.

What a title does not show

This is the part that matters, and it is where a campaign usually goes wrong.

• It does not show intent. Ownership is not a plan. A registered proprietor's name tells you who holds the estate, and tells you absolutely nothing about what they mean to do with it.
• It does not show motive. No inference about anyone's purpose can be drawn from a register entry, and none is drawn here.
• It does not show price or value.
• It does not confer a development right. A title says what is owned. Planning law says what may be built. They are different questions with different answers.
• It is a snapshot. A record of title is current as at the moment of search and no longer.

A campaign that treats a name on a title as proof of a scheme has handed its opponent the easiest win available: one overstatement, publicly corrected, discredits every careful thing said around it. We would rather be dull and right.

How we use them

The titles are the anchor. They let every claim about the site be tied to a specific parcel rather than to a general area, they identify the registered interests that a proposal has to deal with, and they give anyone reading this site the means to check us. Where we have a reference but not yet the document, we say so — and on this page we have references, not document texts.

Named parties on this site, including any registered proprietor, appear in record-descriptive terms only. They may respond in full under our standing right of response, and the assembled document record is on Property & Development Timeline.

Evidence statement

Classification: Primary Document

Status: Register references stated. Copies of the titles and the deposited plan have not been obtained or published by us; nothing is asserted about their current contents.

Author: Ridgeburn Press · Evidence Desk

Last reviewed: 16 September 2026

Sources

1. Record of Title RT 1174253, public land register — [Source to be added]
2. Record of Title RT 1174254, public land register — [Source to be added]
3. Deposited Plan DP 601937, public land register — [Source to be added]

Assumptions

• The description of what a record of title contains is a description of the class of document, not of these two.
• Current copies as at the date of search have not been supplied to us — [Awaiting client evidence]

What is not established

• The current registered proprietor of either title.
• The full schedule of interests registered against either title.
• Whether the parcels are to be amalgamated, and on what basis.
• Any intention, plan or motive of any registered proprietor.

Right of response

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