Building owner responsibilities for exempt building work
Last updated: 15 January 2026
Building owners are responsible for determining whether a building consent is required or asking for advice from a professional if unsure.
Your responsibilities
As a building owner, you are responsible for:
- determining whether or not your building work is exempt (that does not require a building consent), and
- making sure that all building work complies with the Building Code.
Note: Even if your building work is exempt, you can still choose to apply for a building consent. The building consent authority must process your application.
Ask for advice
If you are not sure whether or not your building work is exempt, it is important to get advice from someone with the appropriate building knowledge and expertise. A person with appropriate building knowledge and expertise could include:
- building consent authorities (BCAs) – typically district and city councils
- Registered Architects
- Chartered Professional Engineers
- registered building surveyors
- building consultants
- Licensed Building Practitioners, and
- registered certifying plumbers and/or drainlayers.
BCAs have extensive building control expertise as well as information about exemptions and the building consent process.
Licensed Building Practitioners can be a useful source of information. However, check that they hold the relevant licensing class before relying on their advice.
You may need to pay a BCA or other adviser for their advice.
When some work is outside the scope of an exemption
Note: If the proposed scope of your building work is marginally beyond the scope of a particular exemption, you can apply to the council for a discretionary exemption. The council can exercise its discretion as to whether it will require a building consent.
Before doing this, we recommend that you talk to the council to gauge whether it is prepared to exercise its discretion for your project.
If you are building a small standalone dwelling using the granny flats exemption, the territorial and regional authority discretionary exemptions do not apply. You must meet all of the conditions that apply to the granny flats exemption to build it without a building consent.