Building Consent Guide

​ What is a building consent?

A building consent is written approval from Auckland City Council to carry out specific building work on a specific site, which must comply with current regulations.

Consents are based off architectural drawings of your proposed construction, alteration/renovation, demolition or removal of a building. A council will issue a building consent when it is happy the proposed building work as described in the architects plans will meet the requirements of the Building Code.

How to check if you need a Building consent

There are several ways you can check if you need a consent.

• Use the Auckland Council  Do I need a consent tool to work out if you need a building consent, resource consent or both, for small residential projects.
• Order a Project Information Memorandum to find information about your property and the consents and approvals you need.

You can also check if the work is exempt from a building consent – Building Consent Exemptions

How to apply for a building consent.

You can apply for a building consent yourself, however your application must comply with the ‘building code’ and you will need to provide all the correct documentation. 

The description of the proposed work should be clear and precise. For example: • ‘Addition of lounge, kitchen alterations and new conservatory’ rather than ‘Additions and alterations’ • ‘New 100 m2 dwelling with two-car garaging, associated earthworks, retaining walls and swimming pool’, rather than ‘New dwelling.’. The Council may request clarification or seek further information about your consent application within 20 working days from the date they receive the application. They call it an ‘RFI’- Request For Information. The 20 working day period will then be suspended until they receive this RFI information, in full. 

If you have never done a consent before, best to leave it for your architect or builder to do this on your behalf.   

How long does it take?

Once the Council is satisfied that your architectural plans  meet what’s required in the building code  and you have paid all associated fees and levies, the council will grant the building consent. The Council has 20 working days in which to refuse or approve a building consent application.

Building Consent Fees

​ ​Code compliance certificate

And then what?

You have 12 months from the day the consent is granted to begin work. You can apply for an extension of time for a maximum of 12 additional months.

Once the work starts, Council will send people to the site to inspect various aspects of the work to ensure the construction meets the building code.

Once all the work is done, you’ll need to apply for CCC (Code of Compliance Certificate)

The Council must issue a CCC when it is satisfied that the building work complies with the approved building consent. They have 20 working days from receipt of the CCC application to do this. Even if the owner has not applied for a CCC, the building consent authority must decide whether to issue a CCC within two years of granting building consent or any further period agreed between the owner and the building consent authority. If the building consent authority is not satisfied that compliance with the consented documents has been achieved, they will refuse to issue the CCC.

If you are unsure about what you need to know or do before you apply for a building or resource consent, please visit the links below for more information

Free advice before submitting a consent application

Get 15 minutes of free advice to check if your project needs consents or permits.

Pre-application guidance

Find out what our pre-application guidance includes and what happens after you request it.

Request pre-application guidance

Find out how to request pre-application guidance for building and resource consent applications.

Engage a professional to help with your consent application or project

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) website has information about getting professional help to prepare your resource consent application.

Documentation to collect as you go

Find out what documentation you need to collect throughout your project.

Project Information Memorandum (PIM)

Find out how to order a Project Information Memorandum (PIM) and what it contains.

Building site management

Find out how to manage risks like toxic material and exposed soil on a building site.

Why we have building and planning rules

How we ensure all significant building work is safe, durable, sustainable, and poses no health and safety risks to users.

Auckland Design Manual

The Auckland Design Manual provides objective criteria and context for making your design decisions.

The Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) process

Find out when you ​need to follow the FEB process​.

Consent application service offers and timeframes

Find out about how long it takes to process a consent, and about our standard and tailored consent processing services.

Why not get in touch and tell us about your project? We would welcome talking to you.