The Committee played a critical role in providing practitioners with professionally drafted forms which are universally recognised in the market. The year commenced with the Committee considering its function. In doing so, the Committee noted that a transaction involves far more than simply selecting the right form and “filling in the gaps” correctly. It was agreed that the title “Documents and Precedents Committee” more accurately described its purpose than the previous title of “Forms Committee”.

One of its earliest priorities was the release of an Eighth Edition of the Agreement for Sale and Purchase of Real Estate. The revision of this form had been delegated to a sub-committee comprised of Niamh McMahon, Kay Keam and Tim Jones. Two former members who had provided much input in revising earlier editions, namely Nola Dangen and Owen Vaughan assisted the sub-committee. The principal task of drafting had been delegated to Peter Nolan, an Auckland sole practitioner with substantial experience in property and commercial transactions. The new Eighth Edition was released in early 2007. The new edition was explained to practitioners in a series of nationwide seminars conducted by the Society’s Continuing Legal Education department through March and April 2007. Given the status of the Agreement form in so many property transactions throughout New Zealand, the Society received a considerable number of comments, criticisms and suggestions from practitioners and the real estate industry.

The sub-committee reconvened to consider all of these submissions and a number of minor amendments were agreed. These changes were incorporated with other amendments required due of the impact of the Property Law Act 2007.

In addition to providing a simultaneous release of the form in hardcopy with the joint copyright holder, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, the Society provided practitioners with a new release of the Electronic Legal Forms package in February 2007. The release contained a number of other commercial forms which had been revised, most notably the Agreement to Lease, Agreement to Assign Lease, Deed of Assignment and Commercial Deed of Lease. In addition to these tasks which involved revision of existing forms, the Committee also set about preparing forms not previously published by the Society to enhance the suite of commercial forms. Working from drafts prepared by Kay Keam, the Committee completed a standard Deed of Sublease which is compatible with the ADLS Commercial Deed of Lease. A draft of a Deed of Renewal of Lease prepared by Ian Lowish provided the basis for a further sought after precedent for practitioners. This document is intended to be used in conjunction with the ADLS Commercial Deed of Lease but is not limited to that particular form. In response to requests from practitioners, the Committee also prepared a generic form of guarantee. The Committee is grateful to Phil Sheat and Bernard Smith for providing the initial draft which lead to the creation of a Deed of Guarantee and Indemnity.

No sooner had the Committee completed these new forms than it faced a major challenge when the Property Law Act 2007 received royal ascent on 4 October 2007. Given the commencement date of 1 January 2008, the Society was obliged to embark on an extensive exercise in respect of all forms and precedents. The Society engaged the assistance of Simpson Grierson to undertake the task of reviewing all forms in light of the new legislation. Given the urgency of the situation, the brief was to ensure forms were PLA compliant. In addition, the Wills Act 2007 and associated High Court Amendment (Wills Act 2007) Rules 2007 further ensured that the suite of Estate forms required urgent revision. The net result was that over 40 forms required revision and inclusion in the next release of the Electronic Legal Forms package and similarly production in hardcopy format early in the new year. The Society is planning the release of a new web-based system of delivering the forms which have traditionally been available in hardcopy or via the Electronic Legal Forms package. The Society will cease selling the package but continue to provide services to existing users.

The Committee concluded the year in the knowledge that its role would need to change given such technological developments. It is planned that the Committee will identify forms and precedents required in market, select experienced authors to draft such documents and play much more of a peer review role in the future.

As always the Committee is pleased to receive comments concerning existing forms from practitioners and suggestions for further possible precedents.