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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Resource Management Act 1991

Subdivision and reclamations

220: Condition of subdivision consents

You could also call this:

“Rules for giving permission to split up land into smaller pieces”

When you get permission to divide land, the council can set rules for how you do it. These rules are called conditions. Here are some things the council might ask you to do:

You might need to create a strip of land along the edge of a lake, river, or the sea. This is called an esplanade strip. The council can tell you exactly how to make this strip.

The council can ask you to set aside some land as a reserve near water. They can also ask you to give them ownership of land that’s in the sea, a lake, or a river.

Sometimes, the council might say you don’t need to make an esplanade strip or reserve, or that it can be smaller than usual.

The council might tell you to join some of your land with other land nearby. This could be your own land or someone else’s land. They might do this to make sure you can get to all the new pieces of land you’re creating.

There might be rules about how big or tall buildings can be on your new pieces of land. The council can also tell you how to protect the land from natural dangers like floods or landslides.

You might need to fill in or flatten the land in a certain way. The council can also ask you to create or remove rights for people to use parts of your land. These are called easements.

Before the council decides on these rules, they need to check with the Registrar-General of Land to make sure the rules will work. If the Registrar-General says a rule won’t work, the council will try to find a different rule that will.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM237201.

Topics:
Environment and resources > Town planning
Environment and resources > Conservation
Government and voting > Local councils
Housing and property > Land use
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219: Information to accompany applications for subdivision consents, or

“This law used to tell people what information they needed when asking for permission to divide land, but it's not used anymore.”

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Part 10 Subdivision and reclamations

220Condition of subdivision consents

  1. Without limiting section 108 or any provision in this Part, the conditions on which a subdivision consent may be granted may include any 1 or more of the following:

  2. where an esplanade strip is required under section 230, a condition specifying the provisions to be included in the instrument creating the esplanade strip under section 232:
    1. a condition requiring an esplanade reserve to be set aside in accordance with section 236:
      1. a condition requiring the vesting of ownership of land in the coastal marine area or the bed of a lake or river in accordance with section 237A:
        1. a condition waiving the requirement for, or reducing the width of, an esplanade reserve or esplanade strip in accordance with section 230 or section 405A:
          1. subject to subsection (2), a condition that any specified part or parts of the land being subdivided or any other adjoining land of the subdividing owner be—
            1. transferred to the owner of any other adjoining land and amalgamated with that land or any part thereof; or
              1. amalgamated, where the specified parts are adjoining; or
                1. amalgamated, whether the specified parts are adjoining or not, for any purpose specified in a district plan or necessary to comply with any requirement of the district plan; or
                  1. held in the same ownership, or by tenancy-in-common in the same ownership, for the purpose of providing legal access or part of the legal access to any proposed allotment or allotments in the subdivision:
                  2. a condition that any allotment be subject to a requirement as to the bulk, height, location, foundations, or height of floor levels of any structure on the allotments:
                    1. a condition that provision be made to the satisfaction of the territorial authority for the protection of the land or any part thereof, or of any land not forming part of the subdivision, against natural hazards from any source (being, in the case of land not forming part of the subdivision, natural hazards arising or likely to arise as a result of the subdividing of the land the subject of the subdivision consent):
                      1. a condition that filling and compaction of the land and earthworks be carried out to the satisfaction of the territorial authority:
                        1. a condition requiring that any easements be duly granted or reserved:
                          1. a condition requiring that any existing easements in respect of which the land is the dominant tenement and which the territorial authority considers to be redundant, be extinguished, or be extinguished in relation to any specified allotment or allotments.

                            1. For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)—

                            2. where any condition requires land to be amalgamated, the territorial authority shall, subject to subsection (3), specify (as part of that condition) that such land be held in 1 record of title or be subject to a covenant entered into between the owner of the land and the territorial authority that any specified part or parts of the land shall not, without the consent of the territorial authority, be transferred, leased, or otherwise disposed of except in conjunction with other land; and
                              1. land shall be regarded as adjoining other land notwithstanding that it is separated from the other land only by a road, railway, drain, water race, river, or stream.

                                1. Before deciding to grant a subdivision consent on a condition described in subsection (1)(b), the territorial authority shall consult with the Registrar-General of Land as to the practicality of that condition. If the Registrar-General of Land advises the territorial authority that it is not practical to impose a particular condition, the territorial authority shall not grant a subdivision consent subject to that condition, but may if it thinks fit grant a subdivision consent subject to such other conditions under subsection (1)(b) which the Registrar-General of Land advises are practical in the circumstances.

                                Notes
                                • Section 220(1)(a): replaced, on , by section 116 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
                                • Section 220(1)(aa): inserted, on , by section 116 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
                                • Section 220(1)(ab): inserted, on , by section 116 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
                                • Section 220(1)(ac): inserted, on , by section 116 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
                                • Section 220(1)(d): amended, on , by section 164(a) of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).
                                • Section 220(1)(d): amended, on , by section 164(b) of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).
                                • Section 220(2)(a): amended, on , by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).
                                • Section 220(3): amended, on , by section 150 of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).