![\"LIM](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/report-GJSMW2N74ZHFHMSBHY6S7HG6V4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhanganui District Council is warning property buyers to avoid third-party websites charging inflated prices for Land Information Memorandum reports.<\/p>\n
By Moana Ellis of Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n
Customers can get the same official information directly from the council for a fraction of the cost, the council said.<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s Regulatory and Compliance Operations Manager Jason Shailer said there is no need for buyers to use costly go-betweens.<\/p>\n
“These websites are essentially acting as expensive middlemen, ordering reports from councils on behalf of customers and charging substantially more for the service.<\/p>\n
“People are being charged hundreds of dollars extra for a so-called express service, when paying a third party won’t make us process the report any faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council became aware of one such website after a local real estate agent alerted a resident who had paid a significantly inflated price for a “fast-tracked” Land Information Memorandum (LIM) report.<\/p>\n
The website, which presented itself as a New Zealand land information service but was understood to be operating from overseas, advertises residential LIM reports for Whanganui properties for $1299, with an additional $299 for express delivery \u2013 more than five times the council\u2019s standard fee.<\/p>\n
A residential LIM report ordered directly from Whanganui District Council costs $305.<\/p>\n
Shailer said the website advertised a 10-working day turnaround for its express service, but councils were already legally required to process LIM reports within 10 working days of receiving an application and payment.<\/p>\n
“Buying a property is expensive enough without paying an extra $1300 for information you can easily obtain directly from us.<\/p>\n
“Our advice is simple: if you need a LIM report in Whanganui, order it directly from us. You’ll get the same official report in the same timeframe without the substantial additional cost.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
LIM reports contain important property information, including building consents, drainage, rates and natural hazards. (Avalon_Studio\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The warning follows similar concerns raised by Waitaki District Council this week, where third-party websites have also been found charging significant markups for LIM reports.<\/p>\n
LIM reports contain information held by councils about properties, including rates, building consents, drainage, natural hazards and other details that may affect a property purchase.<\/p>\n
Shailer said the issue highlights the importance of exercising caution when buying services online.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, there are people and businesses out there aiming to take advantage of others, and increasingly sophisticated websites can make it difficult to tell who you’re really dealing with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a reminder that we all need to be vigilant. Before paying for anything online, take a moment to check who you’re dealing with, what you’re paying for, and whether you’re getting a fair deal.”<\/p>\n
LIM reports for properties in the Whanganui district can be ordered directly through whanganui.govt.nz.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whanganui District Council is warning property buyers to avoid third-party websites charging inflated prices for Land Information Memorandum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,687,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-645763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-housing-and-infrastructure","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}