When you do NOT need a building permit
from the Council

Taken from Schedule 1 of the Building Act of 2004; 2004 No 72.

Schedule 1, Exempt building work

A building consent is not required for the following building work:

(a) any lawful repair and maintenance using comparable materials, or replacement with a comparable component or assembly in the same position, of any component or assembly incorporated or associated with a building, including all lawful repair and maintenance of that nature that is carried out in accordance with the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 1976:

(b) the construction of any motorway sign, or similar simple structure owned or controlled by any network utility operator or other organisation:

(c) the construction of any retaining wall that retains not more than 1.5 metres depth of ground and that does not-support any surcharge or any load additional to the load of that ground (for example, the load of vehicles on a road):

(d) the construction of any wall (except a retaining wall), fence (except a fence as defined in section 2 of the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987), or hoarding of a height not exceeding 2 metres above the supporting ground:

(e) the construction of any tank or pool and any structural support of the tank or pool (except a swimming pool as defined in section 2 - of the Fencing of Swimming, Pools Act 1987), including any tank or pool that is part of any other building for which a building consent is required:

(i) not exceeding 35,000 litres capacity and supported directly by the ground; or
(ii) not exceeding 2,000 litres capacity and supported not more than 2 metres above the supporting ground; or
(iii) not exceeding 500 litres capacity and supported not more than 4 metres above the supporting Around:

(f) the construction of any tent or marquee not exceeding 30 square metres in floor area and remaining in use for not more than l month:

(g) the construction of any platform, bridge, or the like from which it is not possible for a person to fall more than l metre even if it collapses:

(h) the construction of any temporary storage stack of goods or materials:

(i) building work in connection with any detached building (except a building that is. required to be licensed in terns of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 or a building closer than its own height to any residential accommodation or to any legal boundary) that:

(i) houses fixed plant or machinery, the only normal visits to which are intermittent visits for routine inspection and maintenance of that plant or machinery; or
(ii) into which, or into the immediate vicinity of which, people cannot or do not normally go; or
(iii) is used only by people engaged in the construction or maintenance of another building for which a building consent is required; or
(iv) does not exceed 1 storey and does not exceed 10 square metres in floor area, and does not contain sleeping accommodation or sanitary facilities or facilities for the storage of potable water:

(j) building work in connection with the closing in of an existing veranda, patio, or the like so as to provide an enclosed porch, conservatory, or the like with a floor area not exceeding 5 square metres:

(k) any other building work in respect of which the territorial authority considers that a building consent is not necessary for the purposes of this Act because that building work:

(i) is unlikely to be carried out otherwise than in accordance with the building code; or
(ii) if carried out otherwise than in accordance with the building code, is unlikely to endanger people or any building, whether on the same land or on other property.