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Building Act 2004

Building - Building work—Project information memoranda and building consents - Building consents

40: Building work not to be carried out without consent

You could also call this:

“You must get permission before you build anything, or you could be punished.”

You must have a building consent before you do any building work. This means you can only do building work if you have permission from the proper authorities.

If you do building work without a consent, you are breaking the law. This is called an offence.

If you are found guilty of doing building work without a consent, you could be fined up to $200,000. If you keep doing the building work without a consent, you could be fined an extra $10,000 for each day you continue.

It’s important to always get the right permissions before you start any building work to avoid getting into trouble with the law.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM306376.

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39: Territorial authority must advise Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga in certain circumstances, or

“The local council must tell the heritage group if someone wants to build near an important historical place.”

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41: Building consent not required in certain cases, or

“Sometimes you don't need permission to build or change things”

Part 2 Building
Building work—Project information memoranda and building consents: Building consents

40Building work not to be carried out without consent

  1. A person must not carry out any building work except in accordance with a building consent.

  2. A person commits an offence if the person fails to comply with this section.

  3. A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $200,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence has continued.

Compare
    Notes
    • Section 40 heading: replaced, on , by section 19 of the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (2021 No 21).
    • Section 40(3): amended, on , by section 16 of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).
    • Section 40(3): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).