Asset searches
Asset searches in New Zealand: establish the recovery position before you spend
Whether a judgment, a claim or a recovery file is worth pursuing is a question about assets, and it can be answered before the cost is committed rather than after.
The problem this answers
A file is often pursued because nobody has tested the recovery position. The debt is real, the liability looks clear, and the cost of proving it is committed before anyone has asked what could actually be recovered at the end.
The answer sits across four record sets that do not talk to each other: registered property and title data, security interests over personal property, company registrations and shareholdings, and insolvency events. Working each one separately takes a day, and the result is a folder of PDFs with no single view and no record of who checked what.
What the search returns
- Registered ownership of land and buildings, with the certificate of title, legal description and the interests noted against it.
- Encumbrances, mortgages and caveats recorded on the title, which is what decides whether apparent equity is real equity.
- Registered financing statements on the PPSR, showing the secured party, the collateral described and the date the interest was registered.
- Company registrations, directorships and shareholdings held by the subject, with related entities surfaced alongside.
- Insolvency events: bankruptcy, no-asset procedures, debt repayment orders and company insolvency, with dates, status and the administering body.
When it is used
- Before proceedings are issued, so the advice to sue is a costs decision made on evidence.
- Before enforcement, to decide between a charging order, an attachment order and writing the file off.
- On a collections file that has gone quiet, to separate a debtor who cannot pay from one who has chosen not to.
- On a claim file where the counterparty's substance is the question rather than the loss itself.
What it does not establish
- A search shows registered position, not net worth. Assets held through trusts, held offshore, or held in another person's name will not appear against the subject.
- It does not value anything. A title with a registered mortgage does not tell you the balance outstanding on that mortgage.
- It does not establish beneficial ownership, and it is not evidence that a transfer was made to defeat creditors.
- It is a picture at the moment of the search. Registers move, and a search run three months ago is a historical record.
The limits on the enquiry
- Every search requires a declared authorised purpose before results are returned, and the declaration is recorded against the user and the timestamp.
- Credit reporting information forms part of an asset picture only where the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 permits access for that purpose.
- Information is collected for the declared enquiry and used for it. It is not retained for marketing, resold or publicly indexed.
The statutory position is set out in full on the compliance page.
Who may access it
- Verified account holders only: licensed investigators, law firms, recoveries and collections teams, insurers, and corporate risk and compliance functions.
- Role-based access means an organisation can grant asset enquiry to the people who need it without opening every source to every seat, and users select only the sources a file requires.
How intelID consolidates the result
Select the title, security interest, company and insolvency sources the enquiry needs, and the results return together, matched to the same subject and rendered in one consistent format.
One audit record covers the whole enquiry: the user, the time, the declared purpose and each source selected. If the search is questioned later, the record is already there.
What you pay is the monthly subscription plus the searches you run, set out on the pricing page. Every integrated source and its legal basis is listed on the data sources page.
Questions about asset searches
Will an asset search find assets held in a trust?
Not directly. Registers record the registered proprietor. Where a trust holds land, the trustees appear on the title, and trustee names can be cross-checked against company and director records, but beneficial interests are not on any public register.
Can I use an asset search to decide whether to file proceedings?
That is one of the most common uses. The search tells you what is registered and what is already secured, which is the information behind a realistic recovery assessment. The legal advice remains yours.
Does the search value the assets it finds?
No. It returns registered position, interests and dates. Valuation and the outstanding balance on a registered mortgage are separate exercises.
Is the search recorded?
Yes. The user, the timestamp, the declared authorised purpose and the sources queried are written to an audit log the user cannot edit.
Request access to intelID
Tell us who you are and what you need to search, and we will set up your account. Verification is part of the process and usually straightforward. Most accounts are verified and issued within 2 business days.