Application types

A building consent is the formal approval to begin building work. You must have a building consent before starting building work. Building work includes work for, or related to, the construction, alteration, demolition or removal of a building.

A building consent, including the approved design plans and specifications, forms the foundation document of most building work. It is a formal approval granted by your local authority under the Building Act that your planned building work complies with the Building Code.

You can select to apply for a project information memorandum (PIM) as part of your building consent application, when you need to discover more information about the land, plans and requirements before you start your project.

Applications for PIMs on Building Performance website

You can apply for PIM as part of your building consent application or you can create a PIM-only application, when you are not yet ready to apply for your consent.

A PIM is a document issued by a territorial authority providing information about the land, any local and regional plans that may affect it, and any other requirements placed on the land that may be relevant to the building work you intend to carry out.

A PIM can help you decide whether your project is possible and practical. The information in a PIM may help you avoid delays later in your project.

When applying for a PIM, you must include enough information about the intended location and use of the building and site for the territorial authority to be able to determine what is relevant to include in the issued PIM.

A PIM may have a notice or certificate attached to it requiring you to get other approvals or consents required by other legislation, such as the Resource Management Act. You may need to get these other approvals before you start your building work.

Applications for PIMs on Building Performance website

You can apply to your council for a certificate of acceptance for work done without a building consent, or in specific circumstances when a code compliance certificate can’t be issued. A certificate of acceptance has some similarities to a code compliance certificate in that it will provide some verification for a building owner / future building owner that part or all of certain building work carried out complies with the Building Code. An owner must apply for a certificate of acceptance for building work carried out urgently.

Certificates of acceptance are based on the Building Code at the time the application is made rather than what was in place at the time a building consent was granted, should have been applied for, or when the work was actually carried out. The value of a certificate of acceptance to the building owner and a potential buyer will ultimately depend on how much of the work the council was able to inspect. In many circumstances, it's not possible to see everything so the certificate will only specify the elements of the building that can be approved.

You must still obtain a building consent for the building work.

The territorial authority still has the ability to issue a notice to fix and to prosecute.

Certificates of acceptance on Building Performance website

A code compliance certificate is a formal statement issued by a building consent authority that building work carried out under a building consent complies with that building consent.

Code compliance certificates (CCC) on Building Performance website

A certificate of design work must be provided with a building consent application when design work is carried out for restricted building work. This is also known as an RBW Design Memorandum.

The certificate is a memorandum detailing all aspects of the restricted building work that must be provided by the one or more licensed building practitioners who carried out or supervised the design work.

You will need to provide the following information:

• What the design restricted building work is, and whether you carried out or supervised this work

• Acknowledgement that the design restricted building work complies with the Building Code, or, if waivers or modifications of the Building Code are needed, what they are

• Your LBP number – or your registration number if you are a New Zealand Registered Architect or Chartered Professional Engineer.

Certificates and Records of Work on Building Performance website

Owner-builders may apply for an exemption to carry out their own restricted building work on their own homes. Form 2B is a declaration that you meet the owner-builder criteria.

You are an owner-builder if you:

• live in or are going to live in the home you are building or renovating (includes baches and holiday homes)

• carry out the restricted building work on your own home yourself, or with help from unpaid friends and family members

• have not, under the owner-builder exemption, carried out restricted building work to any other home within the previous three years.

Obligations and responsibilities of owner-builders and their building project on Building Performance website

A record of building work must be provided with an application for a code of compliance certificate recording the restricted building work completed during the project. The record must be completed by the licensed building practitioners who carried out or supervised the restricted building work.

Certificates and Records of Work on Building Performance website

If the public uses all or part of your building, and you want them to access it before your building work has been signed off as complete, you can apply to your council for a certificate for public use. Your application will need to show that all or part of the building (whatever you are applying for) can be used safely by members of the public.

You can only apply for a certificate for public use if a building consent has been granted but the code compliance certificate has not been issued.

Public access while building or altering a public building on Building Performance website