Timeframes for processing building consents

Council has twenty working days to process an application. However, if we need to pause and get more information from an applicant, it might take longer.

In line with the Building Act, the statutory processing clock stops over the Christmas period between 20 December 2023 and 10 January 2024. This period is excluded from the 20 working day period Councils are given to process applications. A limited number of our Building Assurance staff will be available to process applications during this period.

The Building Act 2004 gives a Building Consent Authority 20 working days to process an application. MBIE multiproof (National Multi-Use Approvals) applictions have a 10 working days. We call this our "statutory clock".

The clock starts when you submitt your application. If we review your application during vetting and identify the application is incomplete we will stop the clock. The clock will reset to zero until all information is provided.

The clock is paused if we need more information then we will send you a 'Request for Further Information' which will stop the statutory clock. The clock will restart once a complete response is recieved.

The clock stops when we make the decision to grant your consent.

We monitor processing times closely and do everything we can to give you a quick result.  Last year, our average processing time was 10 working days.

The time is affected by:

  • the complexity of the application
  • the completeness and accuracy of the information provided.

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