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71: Building on land subject to natural hazards
or “Rules about building on land that might be unsafe because of things like floods or landslides”
You could also call this:

“Even if land might be dangerous, you can still get permission to build if it's safe and reasonable.”

If you want to build on land that might have natural hazards, you can still get permission in some cases. Even if the land has risks, the building authority (which is part of your local council) must give you permission to build if they think three things are true:

  1. Your building work won’t make any natural hazards worse on your land or nearby properties.

  2. The land you want to build on has natural hazards or is likely to have them.

  3. It’s okay to change or ignore some of the normal building rules because of the natural hazard.

A natural hazard is something in nature that could be dangerous, like flooding or earthquakes. The building authority will look at your plans and decide if it’s safe for you to build, even with these risks.

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Next up: 73: Conditions on building consents granted under section 72

or “Rules for telling people about special building permissions on risky land”
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Part 2 Building
Building work—Project information memoranda and building consents: Limitations and restrictions on building consents: Construction of building on land subject to natural hazards

72Building consent for building on land subject to natural hazards must be granted in certain cases

  1. Despite section 71, a building consent authority that is a territorial authority must grant a building consent if the building consent authority considers that—

  2. the building work to which an application for a building consent relates will not accelerate, worsen, or result in a natural hazard on the land on which the building work is to be carried out or any other property; and
    1. the land is subject or is likely to be subject to 1 or more natural hazards; and
      1. it is reasonable to grant a waiver or modification of the building code in respect of the natural hazard concerned.

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          Notes
          • Section 72: amended, on , by section 13 of the Building Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 4).