Building Consent Authorities Reform

The government is currently undertaking a review of the building consent system with the aim of driving consistency, certainty and efficiency between consenting authorities (i.e. councils) and the building community.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is just beginning the process to identify a better way of delivering consenting services to Kiwis as it has become apparent that the current system is just not working. This will be a long process but hopefully we will start to see some consultation and progress on the matter in the later half of 2025.

Councils are constantly dealing with staffing and training issues and as such there are a lot of inconsistencies between the various councils/ consenting authorities and their processing agents. From the outside looking in, it seems that the building consent process has become less about ensuring construction works are completed to a compliant standard and more about revenue generation so, it will be positive and beneficial to see more consistency that allows the industry to grow and evolve without stifling government agencies.

The building consent process has a long way to go but hopefully this direction of change and improvement will help to streamline the consent process, making it easier for all of those working in the industry.

If you want to read more about these changes, you can visit the Building Performance website for MBIE’s latest updates.