Granny flat proposal open for consultation until 12 August – have your say!

The Government is proposing changes to the Building Act to make it easier to build a small, self-contained, detached house on property with an existing home on it 

“The Government is focused on increasing the supply of affordable homes for New Zealanders, we would like to understand all perspectives on potential costs, benefits and risks for the criteria that granny flats and small homes will need to meet,” said the consultation document. 

The Government is inviting feedback from as many people as possible, including: 

• Those thinking about building a granny flat on their property. 

• Those wanting to live in a granny flat. 

• Builders and tradespeople. 

• Mortgage lenders and property insurance providers. 

• Those responsible for building control, district planning and infrastructure development. 

The consultation covers building and resource management questions, and closes at 5pm Monday 12 August. It can be found by following this link: www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say/grannyflats.  

The proposal looks at two key pieces of legislation – the Building Act (2004) and the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). 

Proposed exemptions 

The building system proposals in the consultation include: 

• Providing exemption for simple standalone houses up to 60m2 in size. 

• Conditions and criteria for those homes to be exempt from a building consent. 

• Short and long-term benefits, cost and risk assessment. 

• Potential barriers to the uptake of the proposed exemption. 

• Time and money savings compared to the status quo. 

• Additional or alternative ideas to the proposed options. 

“The Building Act sets out the rules for the construction, alteration and demolition of buildings. Regardless of whether building work is exempt from a building consent or not, all building work must comply with the New Zealand Building Code,” said the consultation. 

The Ministry of Building, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) added that it was initially suggested that an engineer’s report may be required to build granny flats. However, this was quashed for fear that it would introduce additional costs. 

“Instead, we are proposing that all work is conducted or supervised by competent professionals under current occupational licensing requirements to ensure all building work will meet the Building Code,” said the consultation document. 

National RMA consistency 

Some district plans already allow granny flats without a resource consent. However, there is a lack of consistency across New Zealand. To counter this, its proposed that a national environmental standard (NES) is created to permit granny flats on sites in rural and residential zones without consent. 

“The NES would apply in rural and residential zones where it is anticipated most granny flats will be built. We want to know whether people think the NES should apply to other areas too, such as mixed-use zones where there’s a mixture of residential, commercial and light industrial buildings,” said the consultation document. 

It is also proposed that the exemption applies specifically to one granny flat per site and it must be held in common ownership with a principal residential unit.  

However, the consultation said certain district plan rules will still need to apply to balance changes against existing issues such as managing flood risks. 

After the consultation, submissions will be reviewed and used to inform Government, which aims to make legislative changes by mid-2025.