Existing Use Right Certificates

What is an Existing Use Right

Land may be used in a manner that contravenes a rule in the District Plan or Proposed District Plan (i.e. without resource consent) if either –

• The use was lawfully established before the rule became operative or the proposed plan was notified; and
• The effects of the use are the same or similar in character, intensity, and scale to those which existed before the rule became operative or the proposed plan was notified:

However, existing use rights do not apply if –

• the reconstruction or alteration of, or extension to, the building increases the degree to which the building fails to comply with any rule in a District Plan (or Proposed District Plan).
• the use of land has been discontinued for a continuous period of more than 12 months after the rule in the Plan became operative or the Proposed Plan was notified, unless an application has been made to the territorial authority within 2 years of the activity first being discontinued and the territorial authority has granted an extension.

Existing use rights are provided for under section 10 of the Resource Management Act 1991.

Existing Use Right Certificate

A person may request the Council issue an Existing Use Right Certificate. An Existing Use Right Certificate normally is requested when a person wants the existing use right documented for legal certainty. An existing use certificate is treated as a resource consent.

A deposit of $510.00 is payable for processing an Existing Use Right Certificate. Additional charges may result depending on the nature and complexity of the application. The Council may request further information regarding an application for an Existing Use Right Certificate. An application will be processed within 20 working days from lodgment, or from the date from which the authority receives all the information required to consider the application.

There is no application form for an Existing Use Right Certificate. Applications should be made in writing and addressed to the District Planner. Applications should provide adequate information to establish that the activity has an existing use right under section 10 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).

If the Council makes a decision not to issue an Existing Use Right Certificate, the applicant has a right of objection under section 357 of the RMA and a subsequent right to appeal under section 358.

Certificate of Compliance

A person may request the Council issue a Certificate of Compliance. A Certificate of Compliance states that the activity can be done lawfully in a particular location without a resource consent (i.e. as a Permitted Activity under the District Plan). A Certificate of Compliance is normally requested when a person wants or requires certainty that the activity they are conducting can be carried out as a permitted activity.

A deposit of $620.00 is payable for processing a Certificate of Compliance. Additional charges may result depending on the nature and complexity of the application. There is no application form for a Certificate of Compliance. Applications should be made in writing and addressed to the District Planner. Applications should provide adequate information to establish that the activity is permitted by the District Plan.

The Council may request further information regarding an application. An application will be processed within 20 working days from lodgment, or from the date from which the authority receives all the information required to consider the application.

A certificate is treated as a resource consent and as if it contains the conditions specified in an applicable national environmental standard or plan. If the Council makes a decision not to issue a certificate, an applicant has a right of objection under section 357A of the RMA and a subsequent right to appeal under section 358.