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Planning Bill

Planning consents - Miscellaneous - Processes relating to activities that do not require planning consent

178: Certificate of compliance where activity does not require consent

You could also call this:

"Get a certificate to prove your project is allowed without planning consent"

You can ask for a certificate of compliance if you want to do something that does not need planning consent. This certificate says you can do the activity without needing planning consent. The authority will look at your application and might ask for more information. You will get the certificate if you can do the activity lawfully, you pay the fee, and you meet other requirements. The authority will not give you a certificate if you ask for it after a new plan is proposed and the activity would not be allowed under that plan. The authority also will not give you a certificate if there is a notice in force for the activity. If you get a certificate, it is like having planning consent with certain conditions. The certificate is subject to some rules in the Act, but not all of them apply. In this case, an activity can include a specific proposal you want to do.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1499644.

This page was last updated on 12 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Environment and resources > Town planningHousing and property > Land use

177: Consent authority may treat certain activities as permitted activities, or

"Consent authority can allow some activities without extra permission"

179: Existing use certificates, or

"Get a certificate to prove how you use your land is allowed"

Part 4Planning consents
Miscellaneous: Processes relating to activities that do not require planning consent

178Certificate of compliance where activity does not require consent

A person may apply to the consent authority for a certificate of compliance in relation to an activity that can be done lawfully in a particular location without a planning consent.
A certificate states that the activity can be done lawfully in a particular location without a planning consent.
The authority may, within 15 working days of receiving an application, require the person to provide further information if the authority considers that the information is necessary for the purpose of applying subsection (4).
The authority must issue the certificate—
if the activity can be done lawfully in the particular location without a planning consent; and
if the person pays the appropriate administrative charge; and
in accordance with any other prescribed requirements.

The authority must not issue a certificate if—
the request for a certificate is made after a proposed land use plan is notified; and
the activity could not be done lawfully in the particular location without a planning consent under the proposed plan.

The authority must not issue a certificate if a notice for the activity is in force under section 177(1)(d).
Clause 14 of Schedule 10 applies to a request for a certificate.
A certificate is treated as if it were an appropriate planning consent that—
contains the conditions specified in an applicable national rule; and
contains the conditions specified in an applicable land use plan.

A certificate treated as a planning consent is subject to sections 20, 21, and 23.
A certificate treated as a planning consent is subject to this Act as if it were a planning consent, except that the only sections in this Part that apply to it are sections 154 to 157, 165, and 175.
In this section, activity includes a particular proposal.