Selling a unit title privately — the disclosure you can't skip

If your home is an apartment or a townhouse with a body corporate, there’s a document standing between you and a signed sale agreement, and a surprising number of sellers first hear about it from the buyer’s lawyer. It has an unlovely name, the pre-contract disclosure statement, and if you’re selling a unit title property in NZ, providing one is mandatory (settled.govt.nz; unittitles.govt.nz).

Anyone selling a unit title property in NZ must give the buyer a pre-contract disclosure statement before the sale and purchase agreement is signed. It covers the body corporate’s levies, fees and other information about the unit, typically costs about $250 to $350 from your body corporate manager, and the seller pays (unittitles.govt.nz; Smith Partners). Order it when you decide to sell, well before any buyer is ready to sign.

What selling a unit title property in NZ involves

Unit title is the ownership type behind most NZ apartments and many townhouses. You own your unit outright, along with a shared interest in the common property, the driveways, lifts, gardens and shared walls that belong to all the owners, and you’re automatically a member of the body corporate that runs and maintains it all (settled.govt.nz, understanding types of ownership; settled.govt.nz, selling a unit title property).

That shared layer is why selling one carries an extra legal duty. Your buyer isn’t just buying your unit; they’re buying into the body corporate’s levies, finances and decisions. So the law, through the Unit Titles Act, requires you to show them the essentials before they commit (unittitles.govt.nz).

If you’re not certain whether your townhouse is a unit title, don’t guess. Paying levies to a body corporate is the everyday giveaway, and your record of title settles it; your lawyer can confirm in minutes (settled.govt.nz, understanding types of ownership).

The pre-contract disclosure statement comes first, by law

You must give your buyer a pre-contract disclosure statement before they sign the agreement (settled.govt.nz; unittitles.govt.nz). It sets out the money side of the body corporate the buyer is about to join: the levies on the unit, the fees, and other information about how the complex is run (unittitles.govt.nz).

In practice you order it from your body corporate manager, it typically costs around $250 to $350, and the cost sits with you as the vendor (Smith Partners). As selling costs go, it’s minor, roughly what a standalone photography shoot costs (Property Profile pricing, July 2026). Have your own lawyer look it over before it goes to the buyer, because the point of the exercise is getting it complete and correct the first time.

Late or incomplete disclosure hands the buyer options

This is the part that catches private sellers, so here it is bluntly. If your disclosure is late or incomplete, the buyer can gain the right to delay settlement or, in some circumstances, cancel the agreement (settled.govt.nz; unittitles.govt.nz).

Think about the timing of that. The mistake happens quietly at the start, and the consequences arrive at settlement, when you’ve made plans, booked movers and possibly committed to your next place. A delayed settlement is expensive and stressful at exactly the moment you have the least room to absorb it, and a cancellation right in the buyer’s hands is worse. Every bit of that risk is removable for a few hundred dollars and a couple of weeks of lead time.

None of this depends on the buyer being difficult, either. The rights sit in the legislation, and a buyer under pressure from their own bank or their own onward purchase will use whatever the law hands them. You’d do the same.

A buyer’s lawyer will go through the disclosure carefully; checking it is their job. When the statement is complete, that scrutiny works in your favour, because a well-documented unit is an easy unit to buy.

The additional disclosure a buyer can request

Beyond the pre-contract statement, a buyer can request an additional disclosure statement with further detail about the unit and the body corporate (unittitles.govt.nz). Don’t read anything ominous into the request; it usually signals a careful buyer with a thorough lawyer, which is the kind of buyer who settles.

Your body corporate manager and your lawyer handle the assembly. Your job is to say yes quickly and keep the information flowing, because in a unit title sale the paperwork’s speed sets the sale’s speed.

It helps to have your body corporate manager in the loop from the start. Tell them you’re selling when you order the pre-contract statement, and any additional request that arrives later won’t be starting from a cold email.

Order it before you list

Body corporate managers need time to compile the statement, and the moment a buyer is ready to sign is the worst possible moment to discover you’re still waiting on paperwork. So put the disclosure order in the same week as booking the photographer: decide to sell, order the statement, have your lawyer review it, then list, knowing you can hand it over the day someone falls for the place.

That sequencing costs you nothing. The statement is the same few hundred dollars whenever you order it; ordering early just moves the spend to the point in the timeline where it can’t hurt you.

There’s a side benefit. Reading your own disclosure statement makes you a sharper seller. You’ll know the levies, what they cover and what the body corporate has planned, which are the first questions any serious apartment buyer asks at a viewing. Answering from documents rather than vague recollection is exactly the confidence a private sale runs on.

Unit title is the one property type where the legal paperwork must run ahead of the marketing, so build your timeline that way. If you’re selling with Celby, the fee includes the lawyer who’ll handle this; tell them it’s a unit title when you first brief them, and they’ll keep the disclosure on schedule while you get on with selling the home.

This article is general information, not legal advice — your lawyer advises on your situation.

Celby is not a licensed real estate agent. You’re selling your property privately, and all decisions about your sale are your own.

Sources

1. settled.govt.nz — Selling a unit title property
2. unittitles.govt.nz — Pre-contract disclosure statement
3. Smith Partners — Selling a unit title property in New Zealand: disclosure requirements
4. settled.govt.nz — Understanding types of ownership
5. Property Profile — Real estate photography prices and packages (July 2026)