Building consent process

The processing officer will check that your application complies with the Building Act and the Building Code, using our processing checklists.

We assess all applications against the relevant Act and associated regulations.

Some applications, generally commercial property developments, are required by law to be sent to Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) for review.

These applications include:

• Alternative solution fire designs.
• Applications that involve modifications or waiver of clauses C1-6, D1, F6 or F8 of the New Zealand Building Code.
• Applications that involve an alteration, change of use, or subdivision and affects the fire safety systems, including any building work on a specified system relating to fire safety, unless the fire safety system is minor.

Refer to section 75 of the Fire and Emergency NZ Act 2017 for the list of buildings for which building consent applications must be referred to FENZ.

We send the application to FENZ on your behalf and any charges incurred will be passed on to you for payment.

In some circumstances producer statements may be accepted as means of establishing compliance. This is generally work that involves specific design, such as structural or fire designs.

If there are any questions or concerns about how your application demonstrates compliance, you will be sent a request for more information. Contact may be made by a phone call if clarification is of a minor nature. Please respond quickly, address each of the points raised in full and provide a covering letter explaining how you have done this. Revised plans must clearly indicate that they have been revised.

When a request for further information is sent the statutory clock stops. Once all the full information is provided (and meets the requirements of the request) the statutory clock will be started again and processing of the application will resume.

Information must be provided within three months from the date of the request. If the information is not provided, the application may be refused.

Respond to a further information request online - You need to be a registered user and nominated stakeholder (associated with the application e.g. applicant, owner, agent, contact, professional etc) to respond to requests for further information online.

Click on Building Services General Enquiry Lists (new window), sign in, and select the My applications requiring further information enquiry list. Use the available search options to find the relevant application. Clicking the application number allows you to view the details or submit further information via the Submit Response button at the bottom of the application.

Instructions for submitting further information online.

Register here (new window) For new registrations an email will be sent confirming your account is ready for use.

If you are not a nominated stakeholder call the Building Services Administration team on 03 477 4000 or email building@dcc.govt.nz to discuss options.

If you wish to make changes to the drawings before the consent is granted, the significance and extent of the change will need to be considered by us. This could impact the 20-day statutory clock along with the cost of processing the building consent.

Submit the new drawings as soon as possible with a covering letter outlining the revisions. The statutory processing clock will be stopped while the revisions are checked. Once checked the clock will be restarted and processing will continue.

Before the building consent can be granted (approved), we must be satisfied on reasonable grounds that the provisions of the building code would be met if the building work were properly completed in accordance with the plans and specifications.

Once we are satisfied the project will meet building code requirements, building consent is granted and the statutory clock finally stops. Processing costs are calculated and notification sent advising the consent is available once payment is made. It is not necessary to notify us that payment has been made as we have a system that alerts us.

This issuing process may take a few days depending on demand and these days are not included in the 20-working day statutory time frame.

Once payment has been received an email will be sent to the contact person advising the documents can be downloaded using the DCC's fileshare system.

You will have approx. 9 weeks to download the documents before the fileshare link expires. We recommend saving all the documents to a secure location for future use. Once the link expires, in order to access the documents you must apply for a property search. A search fee will apply.

Note: Work must not begin on the project until a building consent (and resource consent if required) has been granted and issued.

If your building consent application is refused, a letter will be sent explaining the reasons why the application has been refused. Costs associated with processing the application will be invoiced and payment required before any documents (if applicable) are returned.

If you are dissatisfied with our decision at any stage throughout the process you can lodge a complaint (new window) or apply for a determination (new window).

Refer to the Building Consent Information sheet available in the related information area.

There are several ways to pay your DCC accounts. For more information visit our Paying your DCC accounts web page (new window).

Note: if paying by internet banking, payments are credited to our account on the next business day. To avoid delays please make sure the debtor and invoice number is included in the code and reference fields (this information is available on the invoice). You don't need to advise us payment has been made. We receive notification from the bank.

Conditions are requirements imposed on your building consent which are deemed necessary to ensure the compliance of the proposed building. The conditions are listed on or attached to the building consent and must be complied with.

The following are allowable conditions under the Building Act 2004 and regulations:

• Section 67(2): Building consent is granted subject to a waiver or modification to the building code
• Section 73: Building consent for building on land subject to a natural hazard (granted under section 72)
• Section 75(2): Construction of building on 2 or more allotments
• Section 113(2): Buildings with specified intended lives
• Section 90: Inspections by building consent authorities (building consents are issued with this condition, entitling Council at all times during normal working hours, or while building work is being done, to inspect land and buildings). 
  Note: This can also include any third-party certification that the building work complies with the plans and specifications, for example, producer statements or memoranda.

Advisory notes may also be attached to the building consent. This information is provided to assist you.  It is important that you read and understand all these requirements prior to commencing work. If you do not understand any requirement imposed, please contact us.