Home occupations

Home occupations are permitted in all residential zones outside the Central City if the following standards are met:

• Maximum total floor area of 40m² (including any area of outdoor storage).
• In addition to the resident(s), up to two full-time equivalent people who don't live on the site can be also employed in the home occupation.
• The only retailing permitted is the sale of goods grown or produced on the site, internet-based sales where no customer visits occur, or goods relating to the on-site service provided by the home occupation (maximum 1m² storage and display area). Food and beverage outlets (e.g. cafes and takeaway businesses) are not permitted. 
• Any manufacturing, altering, repairing, dismantling or processing of materials or items must be within a fully enclosed building.
• The site can only be open to visitors, clients, and deliveries between the hours of: 
  • 7am to 9pm Monday to Friday; and 
  • 8am to 7pm Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. 
• Visitor, courier and staff parking areas must be located on the property itself and not in the road boundary setback (the area between the front of the building and the road) or on a shared driveway area.
• Vehicle movements must not exceed 2 per week for heavy vehicles, and 16 per day for other vehicles (a vehicle travelling to and from the property is counted as two movements).
• Maximum sign area of 0.5m², except that on sites with frontage to Memorial Avenue or Fendalton Road no signs are permitted at all. 
• The following activities aren’t permitted: Vehicle/boat trading or storage, motor servicing, heavy industrial activities, domestic animal boarding and funeral homes.

If any of the above standards cannot be met, a resource consent is required for the home occupation.

The application must address the effects resulting from the scale and type of the business, traffic generation, access safety and hours of operation, depending on which particular standards are not met. 

In the High Density Residential zone within the Central City, home occupation activities not already provided for under other rules are permitted, if they meet the following standards:

• Maximum total floor area of 40m² (including any area of outdoor storage).
• Only people who live permanently on the site can be employed in the activity.
• The site can only be open to visitors, clients or deliveries for the activity, other than for guest accommodation, for a maximum of 40 hours per week, between the hours of: 
  • 7am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 
  • 8am to 7pm Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays.
• The maximum number of vehicle movements per site, other than for residential activities, is two heavy vehicles per week and 16 other vehicles per day (a vehicle travelling to and from the property is counted as two movements).
• Manufacturing, altering, repairing, dismantling or processing of materials or items must be within a fully enclosed building.
• Maximum sign area of 0.5m².
• The following activities aren’t permitted: Vehicle/boat trading or storage, motor servicing, heavy industrial activities, domestic animal boarding and funeral homes.

If any of the above standards cannot be met, a resource consent is required for the home occupation as a non-complying activity. 

Home occupations are permitted in the Rural Banks Peninsula, Urban Fringe, Waimakariri and Port Hills zones if the following standards are met:

•  The total floor area of the part of the building and any outdoor storage area used for the home occupation must be no more than 40m².
• In addition to the resident, up to two full-time equivalent people who don't live on the site can be also employed in the home occupation.
• The only retailing permitted is the sale of goods grown or produced on the site, internet-based sales where no customer visits occur, or goods relating to the on-site service provided by the home occupation (maximum 1m²  storage and display area). Food and beverage outlets (e.g. cafes and takeaway businesses) are not permitted. 
• The following activities aren’t permitted: Vehicle/boat trading or storage, motor servicing, heavy industrial activities, domestic animal boarding and funeral homes.

If any of the above standards cannot be met, a resource consent is required for the home occupation. The application must address the effects resulting from the scale of the activity.  

Businesses involving the sale of food or drinks from a property are not permitted as home occupations.

These are referred to in the District Plan as food and beverage outlets, and include activities such as takeaways, food trucks, coffee carts, sale of baked items, etc., where the food or drink is being consumed straight away.

This includes direct sales from a property and selling food for pick-up by a delivery service but doesn't include preparing food to sell in bulk somewhere else. 

A resource consent is needed to run these types of businesses from a residential or rural-zoned property so that the effects on neighbours, the wider area, and the street can be considered. 

Provision of on-site car parking is optional, but if any visitor or staff parking is provided a mobility park must also be provided.  Any car parking provided must also meet the requirements for design of parking spaces, access, etc. 

Visitor, courier and staff parking areas must be located on the property itself and not in the road boundary setback (the area between the front of the building and the road) or on a shared driveway area.

Cycle parks are required if the home occupation uses more than 10% of the gross floor area of the residential unit (including garage etc). The number of cycle parks required will be a combination of those required for the residential activity (1 cycle park if the residential unit doesn't have a garage) plus any cycle parks required for the home occupation activity. 

Examples of the cycle parking requirements for typical activities undertaken as home occupations: 

 Note:

• Any calculation of fractional spaces of 0.5 or higher must be rounded up to the nearest space.
• Mobility parking spaces on private property can be used by any person, but must be marked out and meet the dimensions for a mobility space.
• A resource consent is needed if the parking requirements are not met.

For more information please email our Duty Planner

A home occupation will trigger a development contributions assessment only when an application for land use consent, building consent, service connection or certificate of acceptance is required.

Depending on the proposed use, a home occupation will be assessed either using the proposed floor area, or the actual proposed usage (e.g. anticipated water use and trip generation).

For more information please visit Development Contributions(external link) or contact our Development Contributions Assessors at develomentcontributions@ccc.govt.nz.

The District Plan also allows the following other work-from-home activities in Residential zones:

• Care of non-resident children within a residential unit in return for monetary payment to the carer, provided that a maximum of four non-resident children are being cared for at any one time and at least one carer lives permanently within the residential unit. 
• Bed and breakfast where a maximum of six guests are accommodated at any one time; at least one owner of the residential unit lives permanently on site; and no guests are given accommodation for more than 90 consecutive days. This activity cannot include the sale of alcohol. 

If the above standards cannot be met, a resource consent is required. 

Changing the use of a building, or part of a building, can require building consent or a written notification to the Council about the change. 

Where a home-based business activity has employees that travel to the home to work, then the activity most likely constitutes a change of use under the Building Act for at least part of the building, as the primary users are different to the home's occupants for the parts of the building being used for the business activity.

Refer to change of use for more information on building requirements where part of a building's use changes, or contact our Duty Building Consent Officer.