YOUR PASSPORT · NEW ZEALAND · 4 MIN READ

Keep house records and belongings organised.

Use one record for the building and a separate list for your belongings. Decide what to share for each purpose.

By Mynestvive · Reviewed 7 November 2026

A kitchen with cabinets, appliances and a dining area — A kitchen can contain dozens of items you would have to remember after a loss. Illustrative photo from Unsplash.

A record for ordinary home ownership

Keep plans, consents, warranties, servicing, major repairs and dated observations together. These are useful for routine maintenance, insurance conversations and sale preparation, whether or not the home has experienced a natural disaster. Mark missing documents and distinguish what you observed from what a qualified professional found.

The passport organises information; it does not verify building condition, ownership or legal compliance. Keep original documents and use appropriate independent checks when buying or planning work.

Sources: Settled — Doing your homework

Damage and repairs need a traceable history

Keep the damage report, claim reference where relevant, repair scope, invoices and completion evidence together. A settled claim is not proof that every repair was completed or that its quality was checked.

The Canterbury and Kaikōura records illustrate the importance of accessible information after major events. The same record-keeping habits are useful for a leaking roof, renovations and everyday repairs. A passport cannot replace a professional assessment or resolve disputed work.

Sources: Ombudsman — Information fault lines: accessing EQC information in Canterbury (2013)NHC — The Kaikōura Earthquake, public inquiry material (2019)NHC — Earthquake Commission Data, public inquiry material (2019)

What happens when the home changes hands?

Buyers need appropriate due diligence for any home, including title, council information, condition and earlier work. Where there has been natural-disaster damage, Consumer Protection also explains checks on claim history, assessments, repair scopes and completed work. A settled claim alone should not be treated as proof of repair quality.

A passport gives you a way to organise that history and offer a selected house-record handover. Your possessions list follows you. Private receipts and supporting files are not automatically passed to a buyer. This is a record handover, not a transfer of legal title, insurance cover or claim rights.

Sources: Consumer Protection — Buying after natural disasters

Useful before you need it

Start with a room photo, appliance identity and a receipt. For the house, add the last major job and who did it. Over time you build a record for insurance conversations, maintenance and sale preparation. It can make questions easier to answer; it does not guarantee a higher sale price, accepted claim or complete history.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE

The report you need when your laptop is gone

Imagine water damage leaves your home inaccessible. The insurer asks what was in the kitchen and when it was bought. Your laptop held the spreadsheet and several receipts. With a copy of the property passport report saved somewhere you can still reach, you can start from dated records and fill in the gaps.

Basic gives you the property passport report to download and keep yourself. With an active subscription, you can sign in from another device and retrieve the stored report and supporting files. That matters most when the place you normally keep your paperwork is the place you cannot get into.

A report also helps you explain earlier repairs. Put the claim reference, scope, invoice and after photos in date order. If you sell, choose the house records to share and keep your personal contents and receipts private.

YOUR NEXT STEP

A few things you can do now.

Keep assessments and repair scopes, not just payout amounts.
Record what was completed and what remains unresolved.
Date photographs and preserve the source of each record.
Review exactly what you share with each interested party.

Explore a completed passport ↗

Read the source material

Links checked during research on 7 November 2026. Policy terms and local requirements can change. This guide explains the topic; your own contract and circumstances matter.

This guide uses New Zealand sources and examples. It is not an Australian or UK legal or insurance guide. Mynestvive organises your records; it does not certify a property or guarantee an insurance or sale outcome.