Block, parcel and title
A Māori land block, cadastral parcel and Record of Title answer different questions.
The arrows are deliberately may, not equals.
Māori Land Court block
A block is identified through Māori Land Court records and carries its own documentary history: names, partitions, consolidations, ownership and management records, court orders and plans. A historical block may have been divided repeatedly, renamed or partly moved into other land-status and title arrangements.
Cadastral parcel
LINZ maintains the cadastre. A parcel is a spatial unit created for a cadastral purpose. Parcel intent matters: fee-simple title, easement, covenant, hydro and other intents are not interchangeable.
A parcel boundary is also not automatically the fence, hedge or other occupation visible on imagery. Survey evidence determines legal boundary position.
Record of Title
A Record of Title is the current electronic evidence of a property title maintained by LINZ. It records legal ownership, legal description and registered rights/restrictions such as easements, covenants and mortgages.
One parcel can be associated with more than one title in some situations, and a title can involve more than one parcel. Unit-title and other tenure structures add further complexity.
Why the geometry can differ
Differences can arise from:
- historical partitions and consolidations
- surveys completed at different times
- unsurveyed or partly surveyed historical descriptions
- road, river or marginal-strip changes
- subsequent subdivisions
- different systems modelling different legal or administrative concepts
- historical data migration and spatial approximation
Do not fix a discrepancy by snapping one source to another unless the task is explicitly creating a project representation rather than asserting the legal boundary.
A GIS comparison
Use Pātaka Whenua to identify the block and current court record. Add NZ Parcels or NZ Primary Parcels from LINZ as a separate layer. Style the sources differently. Compare names and identifiers before doing any spatial join.
Where a legal relationship needs to be established, move to the title and survey records rather than inferring it from polygon overlap.
Read next:
Official sources: LINZ Māori land FAQs, LINZ property title, LINZ parcel guidance.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026
Why the distinction matters
For whenua Māori owners, trusts, hapū and researchers, blocks, parcels and titles answer different questions about the same place. Use Pātaka Whenua for current court-record research and Property and cadastre for the LINZ cadastral/title framework.