Resource and building consents for beginners

Thinking of building a new home, extending or renovating the one you have, or just putting in a new wood burner? You’ll probably need a building consent. If your plans affect neighbours, the wider community or the environment, you might also need a resource consent.

While most people navigate these issues through their architect or builder, it’s important you know the basics so you can keep a handle on what’s needed, and any reasons for delays or extra costs.

We recommend you make a pre-application appointment to get a steer from our resource consent and building teams – and you can see an overview of the process you’ll need to follow at How to… building and resource consents. Here’s some tips to help you get started.

Do I need a building consent, a resource consent, or both?

Building consents protect people from unsafe, unhealthy buildings. They only apply to the actual structure and how it attaches to the land. Anything that could affect the neighbours, the wider community, or the environment will need a resource consent. Depending on your plans, you may just need a building consent. Or you might need both.

Building consents

Generally, you need a building consent for any structure people will live or work in or expect to be safe to use, like a jetty, outdoor fireplace, deck, or retaining wall. Exceptions are listed in schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004. 

Building consents ensure new buildings and renovations meet the building performance standards and rules outlined in the building code. These are set in law by the government. Councils apply, monitor, and enforce the building code through the building consent process.

The building code rules are the same across the country.

Building consents also protect public infrastructure like electricity or water from unauthorised, unsafe, or unhealthy connections. These could result in health risks to people and the environment, costly damage, and disruption to our water or energy networks and our community.

Once your build is completed, Council will issue a code compliance certificate. This reassures future buyers that it was built to the standard of the day.

The building consent officer will be able to advise if you also need to seek the advice of our Resource Consent team. Sometimes plans can be adjusted to meet our district plan rules, avoiding the need for a resource consent. If not, you’ll also need to apply for a resource consent.

Resource consents

You need a resource consent for things like subdividing your property, earthworks, building on land with ponding or drainage issues, or if any part of your building work doesn’t comply with the Kapiti Coast Operative District Plan, such as the distance of a building or part of it (like a deck) to a boundary.

Councils also need resource consents for some activities, such as discharging treated wastewater back into the environment or doing repair work along the coast or rivers.

In some other towns and cities, neighbours’ views are protected under the district plan. This doesn’t apply in Kāpiti, although lower height limits are in place around some of our important cultural or heritage sites.

What about public notification?

Building consents are never notified – applications to build or renovate are assessed by qualified Council officers against the criteria, standards, or rules set out in the building code by central government.

Resource consents, on the other hand, may need to be publicly or partially notified (called ‘limited’ notification), meaning other people can have a say on your plans. This might be because your project will have what’s known as “more than minor adverse effects”. 

Otherwise, your application is ‘non-notified’, allowing Council staff to assess it against criteria in the District Plan and Resource Management Act (RMA) without public input.

Read about public notification of resource consents.

How long does it take to get a consent?

Councils have 20 working days to process applications for building and resource consents. If the consenting officer needs clarification or more information, they will send the applicant a ‘request for information’ (RFI) and will ‘stop the clock’ until this is provided.

It’s these incomplete or inadequate applications that create most delays in approving resource or building consents, as the 20-day statutory timeframe is on hold until the applicant provides the required information.

We’re proud of our Council’s track record in processing applications in a timely way. We process an average of about 1,000 building consent applications a year ranging from installing a fireplace or putting up a billboard through to extensive townhouse developments or commercial builds. Our Annual Report 2023/24 notes that on average, we do so within 10 working days, which is half the statutory time limit. We completed 96 percent of applications within the 20 days. The very few that take longer are generally large, complex developments.

For resource consents, our average processing time over the past five years is less than the 20-day limit and is generally lower than councils we’ve been benchmarked against.

Where it gets frustrating for everyone is when the 20 days occurs over weeks or months due to hold-ups with the customer or their agent (usually the architect, designer, project manager, planner, or builder) providing responses to our requests for information.

If there are delays, ask your agent to explain what information was missing from the original application and why. Professionals should know what’s required and provide the right information at the right time to minimise delays and costs to their customers.

Having a pre-application meeting with our team can help clarify what’s needed from the start. This helps you get it right first time, saving time and money.