KCLT
Kotare Community Land Trust
KCLT is the landholding trust. Its Constitution provides for leases and licences and sets out the Trust’s membership and governance.
Source: KCLT Constitution, clauses 3–7.
Source: KCLT title — searched 30 July 2026.
A guide for prospective residents
How Kotare Works
Three organisations have different roles. Understanding those roles helps you know who to ask, what you are joining and who makes decisions.
KVI
Kotare Village Incorporated
Kotare Village Incorporated (KVI) is an incorporated society. This member-driven society provides members with a collective voice and a way to make decisions about shared village matters. Its Constitution sets out roles concerning common land, common facilities, membership and levies. KVI members form one of KCLT’s two Membership Classes, with the right to appoint two trustees to the KCLT Board at KCLT’s Annual General Meeting.
Source: KVI Constitution, purposes, page 3.
KI
Koanga Institute Incorporated
Koanga Institute Incorporated (KI) is a charitable organisation working to preserve heritage seeds and food plants and provide education in regenerative living. Its trustees, acting in that capacity, form one of KCLT’s two Membership Classes, with the right to appoint two trustees to the KCLT Board at KCLT’s Annual General Meeting.
How representation is intended to work
DocumentedThe KCLT Constitution provides for two board members appointed by the Koanga Institute class and two by the Kotare Village class at each AGM.
Source: Clause 7(b)–(d), PDF page 6.
Read more: membership and appointments
Clause 5 identifies the two membership classes. Clause 7(b) provides for two appointments by each class at each AGM and a two-year KVI membership requirement for Village-class appointees. Clause 7(d) provides for existing board members to resign and new appointments to be made at each AGM.
KVI currently has no appointed representatives on the KCLT Board. The KCLT Constitution provides for each Membership Class to appoint its representatives at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). This meeting was due by 30 June 2026 and remains overdue, with no announcement from KCLT of its intention to hold it. Holding the AGM would enable both Membership Classes to make their appointments and restore the representation required by the Constitution.
The encumbrance: protection concerning the land
The encumbrance is a registered obligation affecting KCLT’s land. It requires KVI’s written consent, alongside the resolutions required by KCLT’s Constitution, before KCLT mortgages or transfers the underlying land. This concerns the land itself; approval requirements for transferring an individual residential lease are set out in the relevant lease documents.
Source: Encumbrance document, PDF pages 1–3.
Source: KCLT title — searched 30 July 2026.
Land ownership and your own rights
The KVI Constitution defines a site as an exclusive-use area under a KCLT lease. The KCLT title search dated 30 July 2026 records Kotare Community Land Trust as the registered owner of the land. A residential leasehold interest is different from a freehold title.
Source: Definitions, PDF pages 2–3.
Source: KCLT title — searched 30 July 2026.
A current title search and the actual lease are still needed to establish the rights and restrictions affecting any particular site.
What is a community land trust?
A community land trust holds land for a community’s long-term benefit. In many models, it retains the land while residents or other organisations own buildings and use the land through leases.
Land trusts take different forms. The general model helps explain the idea, but Kotare’s own constitution, title and lease documents establish the arrangements here.