Janet Xuccoa: Family Trust Services Managing Director on the Govt making it easier to sell property held in a family trust

A view that current family trust laws have too much red tape. 

The Government's making it easier to sell property held in a family trust in its latest revamp of anti-money laundering policies.   

It means realtors won't need to collect extensive information about a trust's history to make a sale.  

Family Trust Services' managing director, Janet Xuccoa told Heather du Plessis-Allan people have to provide the same information to realtors, lawyers, and accountants. 

She says the changes are a relief to most providers, as the legislation is complex, time-consuming, and repetitive. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, the anti money laundering announcements continue from the government.
This time they're loosening the rules around purchasing a home
with a family trust. The new approach will allow real
estate agents to apply some simplified due diligence for low
risk sales. Janet Zookoa is the managing director of New
Zealand Family Trust Services and with us. Hello Janet, our
good morning head that how cumbersome is it to buy
a house through a family trust?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh, it's dreadful, I mean right now under AML well,
up until the new changes, iml legislation has really placed
on all of us that's involved in transactions a one
size fiddle compliance machine when it comes down to trust transactions,
and we've had to follow a set of high water

(00:43):
mark obligations. In other words, we've adapted a set of
rules and put them in place, and those rules don't
usually don't match the actual risk involved in the transactions.
So it's made it hard on everyday New Zealanders to
to really get their transactions through. It's not facilitated business

(01:05):
and personal transactions. So legislation is not great when it's
doing that, because it's stemmying what should be happening in
our economy.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
So it's basically up to agents to make an assessment
of the person and decide whether the low risk or not.
But how would they do that.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's not just agents, it's lawyers, it's accountants. I mean,
that's part of the part of the problem. Just before
I answer that that question, that is part of the problem.
You have got clients providing the same information over and
over again. It's the legislation has been complex, it's been
time consuming, it's the petitive, not to mention expensive. So

(01:43):
these changes are really a welcome relief to you know,
to most providers. What have had to happen with all
of the people that are involved in aml where we
have those obligations is that we have to obtain identity documents,
get those verified, but not on trustees but also for beneficiary,
so we have to really drill down. We have to

(02:04):
verify sources of wealth, which means frequently, as like from
myl of Ninem for example, frequently we have got to
write to lawyers and accountants and ask where the source
of where the money has come from that's actually purchased
these assets. Despite the assets being in a trust for
maybe twenty or thirty years by ordinary every day hard
works and keyweeks, so it's quite it's been quite a basis,

(02:27):
it's it just hasn't. The rules just have not bettered
the trend, the actual risk involved in the transactions. So
it's kind of for me, I think, I think it's
really a welcome relief that we're going to see common sense,
pragmatic approach with proportionality and mind being adopted now where

(02:48):
our actual compliance work is going to match the risk
involved in the transaction.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
And Janet, thank you for talking. Sort of appreciate it.
Jenet zu, co and Managing director for New Zealand Family
Trust Service is Limited. For more from The Mic Asking Breakfast,
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