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Building Act 2004

Miscellaneous provisions - Other offences and criminal proceedings - Offence relating to building control

363A: Public use of premises may be allowed before issue of code compliance certificate in some circumstances

You could also call this:

“The law lets people use a building before it's fully approved if it's safe, but they still need to get final approval later.”

You can ask the territorial authority for a certificate to allow public use of a building or part of a building before it gets a code compliance certificate. This applies to buildings covered by section 362W. To do this, you need to have a building consent for work on the building, but not have a code compliance certificate yet.

The territorial authority can give you a certificate for public use if they think it’s safe for people to use the building. This certificate must be in the official form and might have conditions attached to it.

The territorial authority has to decide whether to give you the certificate within 20 working days of getting your application. They might agree with you to take longer. During this time, they can ask you for more information about your application. If they do this, the time they have to decide is paused until you give them the information.

Even if you get a certificate for public use, you still need to apply for a code compliance certificate when all the building work is finished, as required by section 92(1).

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM309001.

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363: Protecting safety of members of public using premises open to public or intended for public use, or

“People must make sure buildings are safe for the public to use when they are being built or fixed.”

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363B: Application of section 363 to building work where consent granted, or work begun, before 31 March 2005, or

“This rule explained how an old law about building control applied to work that started or was approved before 31 March 2005, but it's not used anymore.”

Part 5 Miscellaneous provisions
Other offences and criminal proceedings: Offence relating to building control

363APublic use of premises may be allowed before issue of code compliance certificate in some circumstances

  1. A person who owns, occupies, or controls premises to which section 362W applies may apply in the prescribed form to the territorial authority for a certificate for public use for the premises or a part of the premises if—

  2. a building consent has been granted for building work affecting the premises or part; and
    1. no code compliance certificate has been issued for the work.

      1. The territorial authority may issue a certificate for public use for the premises or part if, and only if, satisfied on reasonable grounds that members of the public can use the premises or part (as the case may be) safely.

      2. A certificate for public use—

      3. must be in the prescribed form; and
        1. may be issued subject to conditions.

          1. The territorial authority must decide whether to issue the certificate—

          2. within 20 working days after the authority receives an application for it; or
            1. within any further period agreed between the applicant and the authority.

              1. Within the period stated in subsection (4), the territorial authority may require the applicant to give it further reasonable information in respect of the application; and if it does so, the period is suspended until it receives the information.

              2. Nothing in this section relieves the owner of a building from the obligation imposed by section 92(1) to apply to a building consent authority for a code compliance certificate after all building work to be carried out under a building consent granted to the owner is completed.

              Notes
              • Section 363A: inserted, on , by section 22(1) of the Building Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 31).
              • Section 363A(1): amended, on , by section 59 of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).