Auckland · Building Act 2004 & the Unitary Plan
Consents in Auckland: three different questions people ask as one.
“Do I need consent?” is really three questions. Is the work structurally and legally sound (building consent). Is it allowed on this piece of land (resource consent). And is it one of the conditionally exempt categories in Schedule 1 of the Building Act. A job can need one of those, both, or neither — and the case that catches people is the one where the Building Act says go ahead and the Unitary Plan says not like that.
4,350
consents to alter or add to an existing Auckland dwelling in the twelve months to May 2026 — about 84 a week, $712.3m of declared work. Consented renovation is the norm in Auckland, not the exception.
Photography commissioned — plate reserved · July 2026
The three things
Building consent, resource consent, Schedule 1.
They come from two different Acts, are assessed by two different teams against two different rulebooks, and one of them is not an approval at all — it is a category of work you are allowed to do without one.
Building consent — “is it sound?”
Approval under the Building Act 2004 that the work, as designed, will meet the Building Code. Structure, weathertightness, fire safety, drainage, ventilation, insulation, access. Council checks the drawings before you build, inspects at set stages while you build, and issues a code compliance certificate at the end if the work matches the consent. That certificate is what makes the work provably legal for the rest of the building’s life.
Resource consent — “is it allowed here?”
Approval under the Resource Management Act, through the Auckland Unitary Plan, that the activity is acceptable on that site. Height. Height in relation to boundary. Yards. Building coverage. Impervious area. Outlook. Outdoor living space. Then the overlays on top — Special Character, Historic Heritage, notable trees, flood plains and overland flow paths, viewshafts. Nothing here is about whether the beam is big enough. It is about effects on neighbours, on the street and on the environment.
Schedule 1 — “is it in the exempt list, and do I meet the conditions?”
Schedule 1 of the Building Act lists building work you may do without a building consent. It runs in three parts: general exempted work — largely repair, maintenance and replacement with comparable materials; sanitary plumbing and drainlaying done under the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006; and work whose design is carried out or reviewed by a Chartered Professional Engineer. Several exemptions also depend on a Licensed Building Practitioner carrying out or supervising the work. Here is how Schedule 1 actually behaves.
The overlap case, which is where people get caught
Needing no building consent does not mean needing no resource consent. A low deck can be exempt under Schedule 1 and still push your site over its building coverage or impervious-area limit. Repainting a villa needs no building consent at all and can still need resource consent because the villa sits in a Special Character Area. Two rulebooks. Clear one, and you have cleared one.
The sequence
What actually happens, in order.
Auckland Council publishes this as a ten-step process. These are the steps that decide your timeline, with the statutory clock in the right place. Council’s own ten-step guide is here.
- 01
Check the Unitary Plan first, not last
Look your property up on the Unitary Plan viewer and on GeoMaps. Zone, overlays, flood plain, notable trees. A resource consent can change what you design, so finding out after the drawings are done is the expensive order to do it in.
- 02
Get the design done by someone who can sign for it
If the work is restricted building work, the design has to be done by a licensed designer, a registered architect or a Chartered Professional Engineer, and a Certificate of Design Work goes in with the application. What counts as restricted building work.
- 03
Lodge the application
Complete drawings, specifications, and the certificates that go with them. Council’s application page lists what has to be in the set. An incomplete application is the most common reason a consent takes twice as long as the owner expected.
- 04
Processing — 20 working days, and the clock stops
Council states it has 20 working days to process an application once it is lodged. If Council requests further information, that clock stops until you answer. Elapsed time and working days are not the same thing, and the gap between them is almost always the applicant’s response time. What actually stops the clock.
- 05
Consent issued — then you have 12 months to start
Council states the work must start within 12 months of the consent being issued, unless an extension has already been granted. A consent obtained early and sat on can lapse.
- 06
Inspections while you build
Set stages, booked by you or your builder, and the work has to be open to be inspected. Cover up a stage before it is signed off and it can have to be opened again. Your LBP also files a Record of Work for the restricted building work they did.
- 07
Code compliance certificate
The document that closes the job. Council states it must decide whether to issue a CCC within two years of the consent being granted. A consent with no CCC is the single most common problem found on an Auckland property file at sale. Council on CCCs.
The market you are joining
Auckland consents alteration work every week of the year.
Two years of monthly alteration-consent counts for the Auckland region. The seasonal dip is January, and it is a Christmas dip, not a building-season one.
See the numbers
| Month | Consents | Declared value |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 2024 | 333 | $53.2m |
| Jul 2024 | 368 | $49.6m |
| Aug 2024 | 366 | $51.3m |
| Sep 2024 | 367 | $54.4m |
| Oct 2024 | 409 | $59.2m |
| Nov 2024 | 326 | $40.8m |
| Dec 2024 | 261 | $36.3m |
| Jan 2025 | 290 | $44.1m |
| Feb 2025 | 313 | $56.0m |
| Mar 2025 | 383 | $63.0m |
| Apr 2025 | 349 | $51.2m |
| May 2025 | 383 | $72.0m |
| Jun 2025 | 350 | $56.5m |
| Jul 2025 | 452 | $69.1m |
| Aug 2025 | 382 | $50.6m |
| Sep 2025 | 343 | $53.8m |
| Oct 2025 | 399 | $81.9m |
| Nov 2025 | 386 | $59.1m |
| Dec 2025 | 253 | $40.6m |
| Jan 2026 | 259 | $60.9m |
| Feb 2026 | 366 | $63.7m |
| Mar 2026 | 344 | $52.2m |
| Apr 2026 | 369 | $66.1m |
| May 2026 | 447 | $57.7m |
Where to next
The four pages that answer the rest of it.
Do I need a consent?
Fourteen real jobs, each with a building-consent, resource-consent and restricted-building-work read, and the reason behind each.
Schedule 1 exempt work
What the exempt list actually covers, why every exemption is conditional, and what exempt does not get you.
How long, and how much
The 20-working-day clock, what stops it, inspections, the CCC, and the cost components — with the fee schedule left to Council.
Restricted building work & LBPs
What RBW is, the seven licence classes, and the public register check most people do not know exists.
Questions people actually ask
What is the difference between a building consent and a resource consent?
A building consent is approval under the Building Act 2004 that what you are building will meet the Building Code — structure, weathertightness, fire, drainage, ventilation, access. A resource consent is approval under the Resource Management Act and the Auckland Unitary Plan that the activity is acceptable in that place — height, how close to boundaries, how much of the site is covered, what the street sees. One asks “is it sound?”. The other asks “is it allowed here?”. They are assessed by different teams against different rules, and you can need one, both or neither.
If I do not need a building consent, does that mean I do not need a resource consent?
No, and this is where most people get caught. The two systems are independent. A deck low enough to be exempt from a building consent can still breach the Unitary Plan’s building coverage, impervious area or yard standards. A repaint needs no building consent at all, and can still need resource consent in a Special Character Area. Clearing the Building Act is not clearing the Unitary Plan.
How many Auckland homeowners actually consent alteration work?
Stats NZ recorded 4,350 consents to alter or add to an existing Auckland dwelling over the twelve months to May 2026, with a declared value of $712.3m. That is roughly 84 a week. Alteration work in Auckland is completely normal, and so is the paperwork that goes with it.
Can I start work while the consent is being processed?
No. Building work that needs a consent must not start before the consent is issued. Work done without a required consent is unlawful building work, and the usual way it surfaces is at sale, when a buyer’s lawyer reads the property file and finds a bathroom that Council has never heard of. Fixing it retrospectively is slower, more expensive and sometimes impossible.
Who is allowed to tell me whether my job needs a consent?
Auckland Council decides. A designer, an LBP or an experienced builder can give you a well-informed view, and a good one will tell you when they are not sure. This site can tell you which rules are in play. None of that is a determination — ask Council, and get the answer in writing.
Does exempt work still have to meet the Building Code?
Yes. Exempt means Council does not check it before you build and does not inspect it. It does not mean the standard drops. Building work has to comply with the Building Code whether or not a consent was required — and because nobody inspected it, there is no code compliance certificate at the end, so the risk sits with you and with whoever buys the house next.
Who this site is. Renovate Auckland is an independent Auckland reference site published by Amit Sharma. It is not Auckland Council, it is not MBIE, and it is not your consent authority. The trade partner who would carry out work is still being confirmed, so this site claims no licence number, no guarantee and no trade-association membership. Send a brief and you get a straight answer about who would do the work.
Just painting?
Repainting needs no building consent — but in a Special Character Area it can still need a resource consent.
Paintwork Auckland