Exempt Building Work

You often don’t need building consent for low-risk projects.

For a full list of building work that doesn’t need a building consent, visit the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment's Building Performance website's Exempt building work guidance section. Alternatively, you could use the New Zealand Government site "Can I Build It" to see if your project is exempt.

Like all building work, exempt building work must comply with the building code and other relevant legislation, so it’s important to understand the implications of what you are doing before you do the work. Resource consent may be required. Even if building work is exempt, you can still choose to apply for a building consent.

Discretionary Exemptions

Under Schedule 1 clause 2 you can apply for a discretionary exemption.

The Building Act 2004 provides an avenue for the Council to use its discretion where your building work is outside the scope of exempt building work provisions. MBIE provides Territorial and regional authority discretionary exemptions | Building Performance to explain Territorial Authority discretionary exemptions.

The following information is provided to help explain how CODC assesses applications for discretionary exemptions.

Work completed under a discretionary exemption needs to comply with all building code requirements, it's important to note that:

1. Discretionary exemptions cannot be issued for work that has already been completed.
2. You will need to include the same level of information you would supply for a building consent.
3. We make our decision based on the information you provide with your application. There is no request for further information process so if it’s not supplied it cannot be considered and this may lead to us not approving your application.
4. Your application may also have to be considered by council’s Planning department so you should do some investigation before submitting about what district plan rules are relevant. A requirement for you to obtain a resource consent may influence our decision to grant an exemption if it has not already been granted.
5. We consider applications on a case-by-case basis.
6. There is no statutory timeframe for us to make a decision – so allow plenty of time for processing of your application in your planning.
7. There are no inspections carried out, and no code compliance certificate issued.
8. Responsibility for compliance with the Building Act and building code sits with you as the building owner.

When considering applications, we

• look at whether your work is being completed by qualified and experienced people and whether they will provide ’sign offs’ for the work.
• check that your application shows a good understanding of the Building Act.
• decide if we can be satisfied on reasonable grounds that your finished building work will likely meet the building code, or if it not then that it is unlikely to endanger people or any building on the same land or other property.

If your application is refused, you’ll be given the reason why. Depending on the findings, you may

• be able to reapply with additional supporting information, or
• need to apply for a building consent.

No matter the outcome of our decision, payment is required to cover the time spent on reviewing your application. Charges are on a time and cost basis – see our fee schedule for details.