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Building Act 2004

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

42A: Building work for which building consent is not required under Schedule 1

You could also call this:

“A list of construction jobs you can do without asking for special permission from the council”

You don’t need a building consent for some types of building work. This applies to work described in Part 1 of Schedule 1, work in Part 2 of Schedule 1 done by an authorised person, and work in Part 3 of Schedule 1 if a chartered professional engineer designed or reviewed it and it’s done according to that design.

However, there are some conditions. The work must follow the building code as required by law. After the work is done, the building must still meet the building code at least as well as it did before. The work can’t break any other laws. Also, the building can’t be a place that stores hazardous substances needing approval under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 or its rules.

An authorised person is someone allowed to do the work under the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006, but not someone authorised under sections 15, 16, 19, or 25 of that Act.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5767750.

Topics:

Housing and property > Home safety and repairs

Government and voting > Local councils

42: Owner must apply for certificate of acceptance if building work carried out urgently, or

“ You need to ask for a special paper if you do building work in an emergency without getting permission first ”

43: Building consent not required for energy work, or

“You don't need permission for most energy work, but some special cases still need approval.”

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

42ABuilding work for which building consent is not required under Schedule 1

Despite section 40, subject to the conditions set out in subsection (2) and whether or not a building consent would otherwise have been required, a building consent is not required for building work in the following categories:
building work described in Part 1 of Schedule 1; or
building work described in Part 2 of Schedule 1 that is carried out by an authorised person (see subsection (3)); or
building work described in Part 3 of Schedule 1 if the design of the building work has been carried out or reviewed by a chartered professional engineer and the building work has been carried out in accordance with that design.

Subsection (1) is subject to the following conditions:
the building work complies with the building code to the extent required by this Act:
after the building work is completed, the building,—
1. if it complied with the building code immediately before the building work began, continues to comply with the building code; or
2. if it did not comply with the building code immediately before the building work began, continues to comply at least to the same extent as it did then comply:
the building work does not breach any other enactment:
the building to which the building work relates is not a hazardous substance location that is required to be authorised under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 or any regulations made under that Act.

In subsection (1)(b), authorised person means a person who is authorised under the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006 to do the work, except for a person who is authorised under section 15, 16, 19, or 25 of that Act.

Notes

Section 42A: inserted, on 28 November 2013, by section 18 of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).
Section 42A(2)(d): replaced, on 1 December 2017, by section 55 of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Amendment Act 2015 (2015 No 72).