City Council building regulation fees and charges for 2023/2024.

  • Fees and charges set under section 150 of the Local Government Act 2002 or other relevant legislation (e.g. Dog Control Act 1990, Building Act 2004, Food Act 2014, etc.) and in accordance with section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002.
  • Set under the Special Consultative Procedure.
  • Fees set under the Long Term Plan 2023/2024.
  • GST inclusive (15%).

Any functions or services that are provided but are not specifically detailed in this schedule will be charged at the relevant officer charge out rate.

All deposits and fixed fees will be invoiced at the time of lodgement with the Council and must be paid as soon as practicable. Our normal payment terms are 30 days from the date of the invoice however, all deposits are payable within fifteen working days from the date of invoice. 

Applications that are not accepted at the time they are submitted will incur administration costs and are also payable with fifteen working days from the date of invoice.

Where this document refers to Residential, Commercial 1, 2 or 3 or Industrial this is the complexity of work according to the National BCA Competency Assessment System Levels.

Solid or liquid fuel heaters

  • Solid or liquid fuel heaters (per single household unit).
  • The fixed fee includes processing, one inspection and a code compliance certificate.
  • Additional fees may apply if requests for further information or additional inspections are required.
Consent type Fee
Solid or liquid fuel heaters $390

Amendment of a solid or liquid fuel heater consent: change location or change to a non-comparable type of heater e.g. in-built to freestanding or dry to wet $280

Building consent - deposit

This deposit is payable for all residential and commercial consent applications.

Actual costs will be calculated at the time of the processing decision.


Residential applications (excluding multi-storey apartment buildings)

New buildings, additions and alterations.

Value of work Fee
$0 to $19,999 $1,200 
$20,000 to $100,000 $1,400
Over $100,000 to $300,000  $2,000
Over $300,000 to $500,000 $2,800
Over $500,000 $3,800

Commercial applications (including multi-storey apartment buildings)

New buildings, additions and alterations.

Value of work Fee
$0 to $19,999 $1,550
$20,000 to $100,000 $2,670
Over $100,000 to $500,000 $4,000
Over $500,000 to $1m $5,850
Over $1m $7,990

Amendment of a building consent

Type  Fee
Minor Variation $185
Residential (deposit) $495
Commercial/industrial (deposit) $740
Amendment to modify building code clause B2 – Durability (deposit) $162.50

Miscellaneous fees associated with the granting of a building consent and other requests

 Type Fee
Registration of section 73 certificates under the Building Act 2004. (Hazard notice) $420
Registration of section 75 certificates under the Building Act 2004. (Building across allotment boundaries) $420
Building Consent Authority Covenant due to a condition for granting a waiver under section 67 of the Building Act 2004 Actual cost
Discharge of: Land Covenant in Gross, Memorandum of Encumbrance, Section 73, and Section 77 Actual cost
Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) Actual cost is based on relevant officer charge out rate
Temporary Venue Approval Actual cost is based on relevant officer charge out rate
Building Control Technical Advice Actual cost is based on relevant officer charge out rate

Streamline residential dwelling building consent

  •  This is a fixed processing fee for applications from participants in the streamline consenting process.
  • The fixed fee covers only the processing costs for the consent and does not include inspections or any other Council or government fees or levies.
  • Additional categories of work may be added to the streamline building consent process with appropriate fees set at the discretion of the General Manager of the Infrastructure, Planning and Regulatory Services Group.
Value of work Fees
Up to $300,000 $1,750
Over $300,000 to $500,000 $1,900
Over $500,000 $2,500

Building inspection fees per inspection not exceeding 1 hour

Building consent inspection

Where the actual time of an inspection exceeds 1 hour then additional fees will be charged. These additional inspection fees will be based on the fee per inspection and charged in 15-minute increments. 

Please note that the time taken for a building inspection is not necessarily all on-site. This also applies to virtual inspections. Officer time associated with the inspection of a building will be charged, and this may include assessment, communications and decisions made off-site e.g. desktop inspections.

Type Fee
Residential (excluding multi-storey apartment buildings)  $200
Commercial (including multi-storey apartment buildings and industrial) $255

Notice to fix - deposit

Where the cost to process a notice to fix exceeds the scheduled fee, the additional time will be charged at the relevant officer charge-out rate.

Type Fee
Notice to fix - deposit $370
Extension of time to start work on an issued building consent $150

Certificate for public use

The fee includes deposit, assessment and inspection. Where the cost to process a certificate for public use exceeds the scheduled fee then additional time will be charged at the relevant officer charge out rate. 

 Type Fee
Commercial 1 and 2 $430
Commercial 3 $850

Code compliance certificate decisions

Where the cost to make a code compliance certificate decision exceeds the fee paid then additional time will be charged at the relevant officer charge out rate.

Type Fee
Residential solid or liquid fuel heater (cost is part of flat application fee for solid or liquid fuel heater as shown above) $100
Residential minor building work $126
Residential accessory buildings and residential alterations $220
Residential new dwelling (excluding multi-storey apartment buildings) $360
Commercial 1 & 2, Residential multi-storey apartment buildings + alterations to a commercial 3 building less than or equal to $500,000 $550
Commercial 3 over $500,000 $1,200

Building warrant of fitness, compliance schedule

Building warrant of fitness, compliance schedule

Where the cost to process a compliance schedule exceeds the scheduled fee then additional time will be charged at the relevant officer charge out rate.

Type Fee
Application for amendment to a compliance schedule (deposit) $125 plus $40 per system
The annual base fee for administering a Building warrant of fitness (BWOF) $125
Annual variable fee for administering a Building warrant of fitness (BWOF) per system* $40
Issue compliance schedule or amended compliance schedule with code compliance certificate (deposit) $200
Building warrant of fitness (BWOF) audit fee (deposit) $250

* Multiple features i.e. a Type 2 and a Type 4 fire alarm system within one compliance schedule is under the same specified system and recognised as one charge.

Other Building Act applications

Exemption applications - fixed fee

Please note that this fee applies whether the decision is to approve or decline the application. Where the cost to process an exemption exceeds the fee then the additional cost will be charged at the relevant officer charge-out rate.

Sometimes, building work to be done under an exemption application would trigger the requirement for a development contribution to be paid, if the work had been part of a building consent application. Instead of exercising its discretion to decline the exemption application, the Council may seek agreement to the payment of a Development Impact fee as a condition of granting the exemption (also see clause 2.9.3 of the Development Contributions Policy).

Type Fee
Residential Exemptions  $649
Commercial Exemptions  $880
Marquees Exemptions $490

Certificate of acceptance - deposit 

Where the cost to process a certificate of acceptance exceeds the deposit then the additional cost will be charged at the relevant officer charge-out rate.

S97(e) fees are separate and additional to processing costs and apply to all applications under S96(1)a.

Residential certificate of acceptance applications (excluding multi-storey apartment buildings) - the value of work: Fee
$0 to $19,999 $1,200
$20,000 to $100,000 $1,400
Over $100,000 to $300,000 $2,000
Over $300,000 to $500,000 $2,800
Over $500,000 $3,800
Commercial certificate of acceptance applications (including multi-storey apartment buildings and industrial) - the value of work: Fee
$0 to $19,999 $1,550
$20,000 to $100,000 $2,670
Over $100,000 to $500,000 $4,000
Over $500,000 to $1m $5,850
Over $1m $7,990

In the case of an application for a certificate of acceptance under Section 96(1)(a) of the Building Act 2004, the application must be accompanied by any fees, charges or levies that would have been payable had the owner, or the owner’s predecessor in title, applied for a building consent before carrying out the building work.

This is calculated on a case-by-case basis for each application and must be paid before processing starts.


Project information memoranda (PIM) - deposit

Where the cost to process a PIM exceeds the deposit then additional time will be charged at the relevant officer charge-out rate.

Type Fee
Residential $360
Commercial/Industrial $485

Change of use - deposit

Where the cost to process a change of use exceeds the deposit then the additional cost will be charged at the relevant officer charge out rate. The fee is based on a 2 hour technical review and administration.

Type Fee
Primary purpose where use of building changes $540

Miscellaneous fees for all building consents

Type Fee
Document storage fee for consents issued by other Building Consent Authorities Actual costs based on the officer charge out rate.
Administration and management fee (applicable to all building consents without fixed fees and to certificates of acceptance) $175
Building Research Levy (set by legislation) The Building Research Levy Act 1969 requires the Council to collect a levy of $1 per $1,000 value (or part thereof) of building work valued at $20,000 or more. This is often referred to as the BRANZ levy.  ($1 per $1,000 value (or part thereof) of building work valued at $20,000 or more)
Building Levy (set by legislation)
The Building Act 2004 requires the Council to collect a levy of $1.75 per $1,000 value (or part thereof) of building work valued at $20,444 or more.
($1.75 per $1,000 (or part thereof) of building work valued at $20,444 or more)
Residential Accreditation Levy ($0.40 for every $1,000 of estimated value) An accreditation levy is payable on all building consents to cover Council costs of meeting the standards and criteria required under Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006. $0.40 per $1,000 value
Commercial Accreditation Levy ($0.60 for every $1,000 of estimated value) An accreditation levy is payable on all building consents to cover Council costs of meeting the standards and criteria required under Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006. $0.60 per $1,000 value
Application for Exemption for an Earthquake Prone Building (deposit) $610
Application for an Extension of time for a Heritage Earthquake Prone Building (deposit) $610
Assessment of information related to a Building’s EQP status (deposit) $610
Notification of works to be placed on property file $65
Electronic file management charge $52

Officer charge out hourly rates

Note that additional roles may be added during the period that this schedule applies, and the rate charged will be the existing role that is closest to the new role.

Type Fee
Rate 1: Building Support Officer, Inspections Support Officer $120
Rate 2: Code Compliance Assessors, Vetting Officers $180
Rate 3: Building Consent/Control Officer, Building Inspector, Case Manager, External Contractor (Inspections and Processing), Specialist input from another council department $210
Rate 4: Specialist, Senior Building Consent/Control Officer, Senior Building Inspector, Specialist input from another council department $245
Rate 5: Specialist Engineer, Principal Building Official, External Specialist, Specialist input from another council department $275
Rate 6: Senior Engineer, Team Manager, Senior External Specialist, Specialist input from another council department $294

Partnership approvals service

The partnership approvals service is available for projects where a case management approach will assist with the rebuild of the city.

Examples are projects that are high profile, either in terms of the site or the proposed development, high dollar value, highly complex, or customers with multiple projects.

Type Fee
Case manager hourly charge out rate $210
Individual agreements for service may be available to customers By negotiation

Pre-application advice

Staff time will be charged at the applicable hourly rate, including time spent on administration, research and assessment, meeting attendance (as applicable) and advice. 

Type Fee
Pre-application meetings Actual costs recovered based on the charge-out rate of officers in attendance.

Development contributions

Estimates set under section 12 of Local Government Act

Requests for estimates of development contributions where no building consent, resource consent, subdivision consent or service connection has been applied for.

Type Fee
Estimate of development contributions (Fixed fee) $95

You can get an estimate of your development contributions (fixed fee applies) or use our development contributions look-up.


Objections

  • Objections under section 199C of the Local Government Act 2002 to development contribution assessments.
  • The time taken to process an objection will be charged at the relevant scheduled hourly rate, plus the actual cost of the commissioner(s) and disbursements.
  • Time will be charged at the hourly rate applicable at the time the work was carried out.
  • If the cost of processing exceeds the Deposit an invoice will be sent for the additional processing fees. Alternatively, the balance of the deposit will be refunded if it is not required for processing.
Type Fee
Deposit required before processing of the objection will commence $1,000
Development contributions commissioners Actual cost
Secretarial costs (hourly rate) $100
Administrative costs - Development Contributions Assessors (hourly rate) $150
Administrative costs - Team Leader/Manager level (hourly rate) $200
Disbursements Actual cost

Paying your fees

Internet banking 

Payments are credited to our account on the next business day.

  • Bank: Bank of New Zealand
  • Account Name: Christchurch City Council
  • Account Number: 02 0800 0044765 03
  • Particulars/Code/Reference: (please refer to your invoice for these details)

Credit Card (via phone 24 hours a day)

  • Call the Customer Call Centre on 0800 800 169