Building code and construction advice
Facility Operations can provide building code and construction advice to help you understand your obligations, expedite council processes and ensure initial planning and construction stays on schedule. This could include building alterations to your residential dwelling or undertaking a change of use and/or fit out of your commercial tenancies.
Call us to discuss your needs and we can provide you with advice, recommendations and a proposal with a detailed scope of work for your project.
Unauthorised building works
Unauthorised or illegal building works can be categorised as construction that is completed without a building consent where one is required under the New Zealand Building Act.
The most common situations can often involve:
- conducting alterations to your building and afterwards discovering a building consent was required
- discovering a newly purchased property has unauthorised building works, or
- during the sale process you discover your property has unauthorised building works.
It is an offence under the New Zealand Building Act to undertake construction work without a Building Consent and in certain cases can lead to prosecution by your local council. Unless your construction is exempt under Schedule 1 of the New Zealand Building Act 2004.
Discovery of unauthorised building works by council will lead to the owner being issued a Notice to Fix. This notice will list the deficiencies of the work and will provide the owner a set period of time to either; make the work compliant, or where this cannot be achieved then demolition is required.
The owner must apply for a Certificate of Acceptance which is submitted to council for approval. Where remedial work is needed a separate building consent is required.
Call us to discuss your needs and we can provide you with advice, recommendations and a proposal with a detailed scope of work for your project.
FAQs
- There was a time when councils took a very dim view of people undertaking work without obtaining the necessary Building Consent and/or resource consents, however these days councils take a more pragmatic approach to this issue.Although it is unlawful to undertake building work without a Building Consent there is a process within the building act which allows the owner the opportunity to rectify the unauthorised work. In minor cases this could be supplying the correct documentation to council for a retrospective approval. Or in more serious cases could require remedial construction work or in extreme cases demolition. Call us to discuss and we can help you understand the process and your obligations.
- If you are selling a building and you are aware of unauthorised building work we have been advised you have an obligation to divulge this information.
- If you are purchasing a building it is very important to know if there is any unauthorised building work, because you, as the new legal owner, become responsible for that work.
This is a document issued by council that indicates they are aware of the unauthorised building work. It outlines instructions to the building owner on what action is required to remedy this breach of the building act. See here to view an example of a notice to fix for a serious breach of the act.
Under the terms of the New Zealand Building Act 2004 councils cannot issue a Building Consent in retrospect. Therefore there is a clause within the act that states a building owner must apply for a Certificate of Acceptance if they have undertaken emergency work or unauthorised building work prior to obtaining a Building Consent.
The Certificate of Acceptance is an application to legalise unauthorised (or emergency) building work. If further remedial work is required to bring the construction up to building code standard, that remedial work requires a new Building Consent.
Councils charge a set of fees for a Certificate of Acceptance and an additional set of fees for any Building Consent required for remedial work. This means you could be paying two sets of fees because of the breach of the building act.