Garage-to-sleepout conversion pushed through without consent
A homeowner in Napier wants her existing 6 m x 4 m detached garage converted into a sleepout with a small ensuite. The garage is single-storey, timber-framed on a concrete slab, with a 2.4 m stud and a roller door. The plan is to line the walls and ceiling, install a shower, toilet and basin connected to the existing house drain, add a heat pump, cut in two new windows and a ranch slider, and build a 12 m² deck at the door. The owner says her brother-in-law, a builder, told her 'anything under 30 m² doesn't need consent', and she wants work to start Monday; she has already paid a deposit on the shower and the joinery. The property is a cross-lease, and the garage sits 1.2 m from the side boundary where the district plan requires 2.0 m for habitable buildings. The council file shows no building consent for the original garage.
1. Determine whether building consent is required and identify every approval in play.
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Building consent is required. The '30 m²' rule does not exist in the Building Act, and every limb of the relevant Schedule 1 exemption fails here.
- The exemption covers a single-storey detached building under 10 m² with no sanitary fixtures or sanitary plumbing, not used for sleeping or habitation, and subject to further conditions. This building is 24 m², gains a shower, toilet and basin, and will be slept in. It is not exempt.
- Work needing consent: the new sanitary plumbing and drainage (licensed plumber and drainlayer, inspections, records of work); new window and slider openings, which affect lintels and bracing; insulation to the current H1 requirements for a habitable space; and the weathertightness of new openings and the closed-in roller door.
- Change of use: converting a garage to habitable accommodation changes the use. The owner must notify the council in writing before the change, and the building then has to comply with the Building Code 'as near as reasonably practicable' for the new use - means of escape, fire, moisture and insulation among them. The garage framing and slab may also be under-treated or uninsulated, which the change of use can force you to address.
- Resource consent: the 1.2 m setback against a 2.0 m habitable-building yard is a district plan matter. Existing use rights might cover the garage as built, but converting it to habitable use with a new deck may intensify the infringement beyond those rights. Check with the duty planner before spending money.
- Cross-lease: check the flat plan and exclusive-use areas, and whether the works affect shared areas or need the neighbour's agreement.
- The unconsented original garage is a separate problem. The new consent will only cover the new work, and the existing building's compliance will not be certified by it.
2. How do you handle the owner's pressure and the 'under 30 m²' advice she has been given?
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Be direct, be specific, and put it in writing the same day - but keep the relationship workable.
- Correct the misinformation plainly. Quote the actual exemption conditions and show why a 24 m² building with a shower and a bed fails them. It is not a matter of interpretation.
- Explain what happens if you build it anyway: it cannot get a Code Compliance Certificate, the work will show on a LIM when she sells, insurers may refuse cover for an unconsented sleepout, the council can issue a notice to fix or require the work to be removed or made good, and as the builder you would be committing an offence under the Building Act 2004 (building work not in accordance with a consent) with fines and a risk to your licensed building practitioner status. You are not willing to put either of you in that position.
- Reassure her about the deposit: the shower and joinery are not wasted if the consent is obtained. They simply cannot be installed yet, and the joinery sizes may change once the designer has looked at the openings.
- Give her a clear path and a realistic programme: engage a designer, lodge the building consent (allow roughly 20 working days once complete, longer if a resource consent is also needed), then build. Offer to walk her through the plans before lodgement so there are no surprises.
- Do not accept a start-on-Monday instruction, and do not accept a verbal 'I take responsibility'. If she wants to proceed without consent, decline in writing and record the advice you gave.
3. Assuming the owner agrees to do it properly, set out the consent and inspection sequence through to completion.
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Sequence it so that nothing gets covered before it has been seen.
- Design and documentation. Designer prepares plans and specifications, including the H1 insulation values, lintel and bracing details for the new openings, the plumbing and drainage layout, and the change-of-use assessment. Confirm the resource consent position on the setback at the same time.
- Application. Lodge the building consent with the plans, specifications and any supporting calculations. A project information memorandum is optional but can be useful for identifying the resource consent and cross-lease issues early.
- Consent granted with conditions. Read the conditions and diarise every inspection and every record of work required.
- On site, in order: set out and any new slab or footing work (inspection before pour); drainage laid and inspected before covering; framing, lintels, bracing and insulation inspected at pre-line; window and door installation and air seals checked at pre-cladding or pre-weathertightness as the consent requires; cladding installed; then post-line and final inspections.
- Records of work. Restricted building work - the plumbing, drainlaying, framing, bracing and cladding - must be carried out or supervised by licensed practitioners who supply records of work. The plumber and drainlayer certify their own work. No records, no CCC.
- Documentation for the CCC. Keep photographs of every stage, the inspection records, producer statements, as-built drainage and the record of the change of use notification.
- Code Compliance Certificate. Apply once all work is complete and all inspections have passed. Until it is issued, the sleepout is unconsented building work, whatever the owner has been told.