The term AMF stands for ‘ad medium filum aquae’ which is basically Latin for ‘to the middle line of the water’. Sometimes where a river abuts a property and the connection is not interrupted by a road or other form of public land, the adjoining landowner may own the riverbed to the centre of the river. Land may also gradually accrete or erode from a title depending on the river’s movements over the years.
These sorts of claims can be done as part of a subdivision, or as a standalone land claim. Sometimes the land area can be the difference between being able to subdivide and not. Such land can offer valuable grazing or land-use rights, and in the South Island particularly, these riverbeds can be quite wide areas of land. Whether these rights exist can only be ascertained on a case-by-case basis and requires investigation by a clever Crown Investigating Agent (of which there are very few around). Such a claim is becoming more difficult to succeed these days as LINZ often require soil investigations to support that the land has remained farmable land or accreted gradually and imperceptibly within the riverbed for many years. We have done many of these over the years as well so know how to get the best result for you.
