Why do I need a resource consent? Because the rules have gone mad.
When the Medium Density Residential Standards rolled into district plans around 2022, the headline was simple: 3 houses, 3 stories, no resource consent needed. It was the kind of housing reform that made the news & got public attention.
What got far less attention was everything bundled in alongside it. The three-storey rule was never a blank cheque, it came with a long list of qualifying standards you also had to meet, and district plans grew thicker, not thinner, once councils folded MDRS in.
A few examples show how easy those standards are to breach without realising:
Water tanks and setbacks. A tank counts as a structure, so it can’t sit inside a boundary setback the way common sense might suggest.
Glazing to the street. Many district plans require a minimum percentage, often around 20%, of a street-facing wall to be made up of glazed windows and doors, to avoid blank frontages. A garage-heavy elevation can fall short without anyone intending it to, and glazing 20% of the street frontage when facing south is not common sense.
Noisy heat pumps. Fixed outdoor plant has noise limits near a boundary, and a heat pump unit placed for convenience rather than compliance can breach them. Would you expect to apply for a resource consent when installing a heat pump?
Front fencing. Height limits near the road protect sightlines for drivers and pedestrians, and a fence built for privacy can just as easily block a driveway’s view of the footpath.
Earthworks. We have dealt with a house complying with all the district plan rules but a soakpit had ignited a RC simply because we needed to excavate a pit, then fill it up again.
None of these are rare exceptions. They’re the ordinary decisions every project makes, and that’s exactly why the standards are so easy to breach, even on a build that would otherwise sail through as a permitted activity. The rules didn’t get simpler. They got longer.
This is what we’re here for, to navigate these mad rules & get your consents through to the finish line.
