30m2

Buildings up to 30 square metres

No more council consents for buildings and structures up to 30 square metres

This page has general information copied from different sources including Government.  Some of it may be out of date.  Please ensure you check with the council in your area that the information is correct.

Single-storey detached buildings up to 30m2 or ’30 square metres’ (322 Square Feet) – such as sleep-outs, sheds and greenhouses, carports, awnings and water storage bladders – will now not require a council-approved building consent.  NB the 30m2 can apply to the internal footprint, a x b as shown in this diagram.  More on this Government Building website here.

DIY-enthusiasts will save time and money when new rules come into force which scrap building consent requirements for low-risk projects.

Exemptions to the Building Act, will mean that anyone can build a sleep-out, a carport, or a shed, without needing council permission.

The move will scrap as many as 9000 consents having to be reviewed by local authorities, saving an estimated $18m in fees.

Under the scheme, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) will increase the number of low-risk building work that does not require pre-approval.

New Zealanders save time and money, while councils can focus on higher-risk building work.

Some of the new exemptions will utilise the Licensed Builder Practitioners scheme, which recognises the competence of these building practitioners and allows them to join chartered professional engineers and certifying plumbers in having their own suite of exemptions.

The issue of delays to building consent has been a bone of contention and annoyance for many years for builders, so this is a step in the right direction.

It’s not just for Do-It-Yourselfers, it’s actually good for qualified builders because a lot of them do small projects, so this will be good for them, so they can get on with them and not be delayed.

Send us your plans/sketches – use our contact form here to upload them.
Check out our Tiny Home plans too.

So, what are the new 30m2 exemptions?

The exemptions exclude building consent requirements in the following situations, provided the design has been carried out or reviewed by a Chartered Professional Engineer or a Licensed Building Practitioner.

The following exemptions are to be introduced:

  • Single-storey detached buildings (e.g. sleep outs, sheds and greenhouses) up to 30m2 do not require a building consent
  • Carports up to 40m2
  • Ground floor awnings up to 30m2
  • Ground floor verandas and porches up to 30m2
  • Outdoor fireplaces or ovens with a maximum height of 2.5 metres, and maximum cooking surface of 1m2
  • Short-span (small) bridges which the general public cannot access and does not span a road or rail area
  • Single-storey pole sheds and hay barns in rural zones
  • Flexible water storage bladders for irrigation and firefighting only, up 200,000 litres in storage capacity.

Send us your plans/sketches – use our contact form here to upload them.
Check out our Tiny Home plans too.

Starting a project that doesn’t need a building consent?

The proposed changes to the Building Act do not change resource consent requirements and you still need to investigate whether your project requires resource consent under your local planning framework. For example, if your sleep-out is self-contained (such as containing a kitchen and bathroom) this would usually meet the planning definition of a “dwelling” and generally, resource consent will be required along with the payment of development contributions.

It’s the property owner’s responsibility to check what consents are required. An investigation into resource consent requirements is recommended at the start, to avoid time and cost delays later down the track.

A square meter, or square metre, is a unit of area. It is the size of a square that is one meter on each side. It is approximately 10.76 square feet.

Need to know more about the 30m2 rules? Call 09 889 8000 or text us today for more information and pricing on 0292 88 8020 – you can also complete our contact form here.

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