Consents and PIMs

Building work in New Zealand is controlled by the Building Act 2004. This legislation is designed to ensure that buildings in New Zealand are built right the first time and that appropriately skilled people design, build and inspect building work.

To achieve this, the Act requires anyone proposing to do building work to firstly obtain a building consent (BC) from a building consent authority (BCA). A BCA is the part of Council that receives, grants and issues building consents, undertakes inspections and issues code compliance certificates.

The Building Act is administered by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

When is a building consent required?

If you’re planning any construction, demolition or alteration work, you’ll need building consent before work can begin. Building consent is also often needed for tents or marquees, pools, fireplaces, driveways and solar panels. There are some exemptions. If in doubt, talk to us or refer to MBIE guidance on work requiring consents.

Building consent exemptions tool

Find more information on Building Consent FAQs page.

If you wish to change some aspect of your building project after your consent has been approved you will need to apply for an amendment to the Building Consent before the work is carried out.

The process for obtaining an amendment is the same as obtaining the original consent.

It is very important that at the time of inspection the Building Consent documents accurately reflect what has been built.

Minor variations that don’t differ significantly from the plans and specifications can be approved on site at the time of inspection with the required minor variation form.

Applications Forms and Guides

Applications for alterations to an existing building

In accordance with section 112 of the Building Act 2004, building consents can only be granted for alterations to existing buildings where the building consent authority is satisfied that the building will:

• comply as nearly as is reasonably practicable with the Building Code provisions for means of escape from fire and access and facilities for people with disabilities (if required)
• continue to comply with the other provisions of the Building Code to at least the same extent as before the alteration.

The Act clarifies that if part of a building is altered, the upgrade provisions are triggered for the whole building.

A territorial authority may, by written notice, grant an application to allow alterations to take place without the building complying with the relevant provisions of the Building Code. A territorial authority can only grant such an application if it is satisfied that:

• if the building were to comply with the relevant provisions of the Building Code, the alteration would not take place
• the alterations will result in improvements to the means of escape from fire or access and facilities for people with disabilities
• the improvements outweigh any detriment likely to arise as a result of the other non-compliance with the Code.
• Alterations to earthquake-prone buildings are now under section 133AT of the Building Act.

More information about the requirements for alterations to existing buildings can be found on the MBIE website

Submitting alternative product information for pre-approval

A recent amendment to the Building (Forms) Regulations enables the pre-approval of alternative products, plans and/or specifications as part of the building consent application process.

Applicants should be aware of both the risks and benefits of submitting alternative product information for pre-approval. The more alternative documentation submitted (as part of the consent process) the longer it will take the processing officer to assess the application and the more requests for information are likely to be generated. This could add time and cost to your application.

Applicants should also consider how this alternative documentation is presented to ensure the document sets do not dramatically increase in size and are still easy for the processing officer to manage when assessing the consent and when inspecting construction on site.

Residential/Commercial Construction

It is important that all plans and specifications supplied are of a high quality and level of detail. This helpful guide to applying for a building consent is available at the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment website.

If the quality of your application does not meet the required standard it may be returned to you or may increase the cost of processing.

• Analysis of what work is required to fully comply with the Building Code
• For renovations, alterations or extensions to existing buildings a proposal for upgrade including a list of benefits and sacrifices involved in the proposal is required
• A site plan, contours, datum, floor levels nominated, with measurement to boundaries
• Dimensioned floor plan for each level showing existing and proposed building work
• An elevation plan with window ventilation and cladding detail
• Two cross sections (one for garages and one for outbuildings)
• A plumbing, drainage, storm water layout
• Horizons Regional Council’s approval of the designed onsite wastewater treatment system is required with the submitted Effluent disposal system report
• Footing, foundation details *
• Slab layout, foundation details *
• Pile plan and subfloor framing layout
• Roof framing and bracing layout
• Bracing schedule
• Roof truss layout and design certificate
• Truss, purlin fixing and location nominated
• Weather tightness matrix
• Exterior cladding and flashing details
• Smoke detectors shown on plans
• Specific engineering design calculations, details and Producer Statements identifying competence of the author
• Existing vehicle crossing details
• New crossing details
• Distances to boundaries and width of the crossing
• Record of Title

Commercial Only

• Fire safety analysis
• Analysis of current degree of compliance with means of escape and access and facilities for people with disabilities. This analysis must be performed by a competent person
• Certificate of Public Use application form
• Compliance Schedule

Specified systems and compliance

Specified systems are systems or features that help a building to function fully – things like sprinklers, lifts, ventilation and air conditioning. These systems need ongoing inspection and maintenance to ensure they work as they should. If they fail to work properly they could adversely affect health or life safety, which may also affect your insurance cover. There are 16 specified systems in the Building Act. These must be identified on your building consent application form.

If your building work contains specified systems, the consent application must contain information with the application in respect to Performance Standards, proposed Inspection and Maintenance procedures and Reporting frequency for all Specified Systems.

*B1 for Foundations changed in November 2021

The 2021 MBIE changes to B1 were bought in because of the risk of liquefaction and as RDC have no mapped areas in our district for liquefaction we have now changed our requirements around ground bearing and confirming good ground.

This will need to be done by the following methods:

• Importance Level 1 buildings, e.g.; outbuildings, will need testing as per NZ3604 3.3. Penetrometer testing results are required at the time of application, any consent applied for without the report will be put on hold until it is submitted.
• Commercial and Importance Level 2 and up buildings will require a full Geotech report from a Chartered Professional Engineer who specialises in geotechnical engineering or a Professional Engineering Geologist to show ground bearing requirements in accordance with NZS 4404 as per the requirements of NZS 3604 3.1.3(G).

The exception to this is:

• Any residential or commercial additions that are less than 30sqm only require Penetrometer Testing Results, anything above 30sqm requires a full Geotech Report.
• Repiling of buildings do not require a Penetrometer Testing or a Geotech report

The Penetrometer Testing Results or Geotech report will need to be submitted for processing with the Building Consent Application. Any consent applied for without the report will be put on hold till it is submitted.

If you’re planning to install a fireplace in your home you’ll need building consent. If your property is less than two hectares in lot size, you’ll need to choose a wood burner from a list approved by the Ministry for the Environment.

Second hand fires will be considered on a case by case basis (add link to FAQ/ Other useful information/Woodburners)

Only building work listed under Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 may be done without first obtaining a Building Consent, but the building work must still comply with the Building Code. Further information can be found in the exemption guide that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment have developed.

Building consent exemptions tool

If your building work involves installing or altering specified systems we require the proposed installation standards, maintenance and reporting procedures to be included in your application.

Please refer to the information on Commercial buildings and Compliance Schedules and Warrant Of Fitness.

Building and design work relating to a building’s structure, foundations, fire safety or moisture protection is classified as ‘restricted building work’. Restricted building work currently only relates to residential buildings, and can only be carried out by a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP).

Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs) are designers, carpenters, roofers, external plasterers, bricklayers and block layers and those who lay foundations, who are licensed under the Government's LBP scheme.

No restricted building works can start until Council has been notified of the names and licence numbers for the trade LBPs who will be doing the work.

Note: Registered architects and chartered professional engineers are automatically treated as Design LBPs. Licensed or certified plumbers are automatically treated as LBPs so that they are able to carry out and supervise fitting and sealing or flashing of pipe work through exterior walls and certain roofing and cladding work, in the ordinary course of their work.

The Public Register for current Licensed Building Practitioners can be found at Search the LBP Worker Register.

Owner Builder Exemption

The Owner-Builder Exemption ensures the Kiwi tradition of DIY building work can continue. If you're a homeowner who qualifies for the exemption, you will not need to be or use a licensed building practitioner (LBP) for any restricted building work on your home. However, you will still need to apply for a building consent.

More information about LBP's can be found on the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment website.

More information about owner-builder exemptions can also be found on the MBIE website.

Owner-builder exemptions forms are available on our Application Forms and Guides page.

Building consent applications for restricted building work must include a Memorandum (Certificate of Design Work) from the LBP.

At the end of the project, each LBP is required to provide a Memorandum (Record of Building Work), which details the work the LBP carried out.

Failure to provide all the required Memorandums could result in the Council being unable to issue the final Code of Compliance Certificate for the project.

Memorandum from Licensed Building Practitioner: Certificate of Design Work

• Certificate of Design (Form 2A)

Memorandum from Licensed Building Practitioner: Record of Building Work

• Record of Building Work (Form 6A)

A producer statement is a professional opinion based on sound judgment and specialist expertise. It is not a product warranty or guarantee of compliance.

While producer statements are well-established and widely used, they have no particular status under the Building Act 2004. They are used as one source of information which the council may rely upon to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to conclude that the work complies with the Building Code.

In considering whether to accept a producer statement, a council will normally assess the credentials of the author to ensure that person has the appropriate experience and competence in their particular field of expertise and make their own inspections of the building work. For more information, check out Producer statements.

• Importance level 2 and up building work - ensure that Producer Statements are signed and dated by the author and are not more than 90 days old.
• Importance level 1 building work - ensure that Producer Statements are signed and dated by the author and are not more than 365 days old.

A PIM is a memorandum issued under section 34 of the Building Act 2004 which provides information relevant to a proposed building project, and can include things like the location of services, likelihood of flooding, subsidence, and ground stability.

It’s also a way to find out about any other requirements you might need for your project, such as resource consents, vehicle crossings or other issues that may affect the design and/or construction of the proposed structure.

A PIM is optional, but we recommend you get one if your project is large or complex.

Although you can apply for a PIM at the same time as a building consent, it's better to do so beforehand, so you know all the matters that may affect your project before submitting your building consent application. PIM applications follow a similar process to a building consent application.

A PIM does not give you any form of approval under the RDC District Plan and is not an authorisation to commence work. You must wait until your building consent (and resource consent, if required) has been granted and issued before commencing work.