The 70m² consent exemption, in plain English

Since January 2026, small homes up to 70m² no longer need building consent when licensed professionals design and build them. Here is what that actually means for your backyard.

Since January 2026, New Zealand homes of 70 square metres or less no longer need building consent, provided a licensed professional designs them and a licensed builder puts them up. That single change removes the slowest, most unpredictable part of adding a second home to your land.

The exemption is not a loophole. The same Building Code still applies: the home must be warm, dry, structurally sound and properly drained. What changes is who signs it off. Instead of lodging drawings with council and waiting in the queue, the professionals who design and build the home carry the responsibility, and council simply receives a record of works when it is done.

There are still rules that sit outside the Building Act. District plan setbacks, site coverage limits and infrastructure connections all still apply, and they differ by council. That is why every Seventy plan set is adapted to your specific address before a licensed designer signs it: wind zone, snow loading, soil type and the local planning overlay are checked for your section, not a generic one.

What should you do first? Before anything else, confirm your section can take a second dwelling. We check your zoning, services and access up front, and tell you straight if it will not work. If it will, the paperwork that shows council you are allowed to build is included with every plan set.

The short version: if your site qualifies, the consent queue is no longer your problem. The building still has to be excellent. It just gets to exist sooner.