Tenure review, property rights and public policy

Abstract

Large tracts of the South Island high country are farmed under leases that are perpetually renewable at the discretion of the lessee. Changes in views about the optimal use of the high country have resulted in the government instituting a tenure review process, under which the Crown is negotiating with the owners of South Island pastoral leases to redefine the property rights associated with those leases. As a result of tenure review, the portions of these pastoral estates that have high conservation and/ or low farming value are being returning to the Crown under management of the Department of Conservation (DOC), while those portions of the estates that have high value in farming or other uses are transferred to the freehold ownership of the former lessee.