Another local planner agrees, but warns development contributions will still have to be paid to council, which last year raised them by more than 300%.
Cue Environmental’s Ben Farrell says he’s had numerous approaches from residents over the years wanting to establish a granny flat, but they’ve been put off by the consenting requirements.
That process is not only costly — $30,000 to $50,000 for building and resource consents, he estimates — but time-consuming.
In announcing the Building Act will be amended in the middle of the year, RMA Reform and Housing Minister Chris Bishop stated: "It’s currently far too hard to build the homes New Zealanders need, with even the simplest dwellings tangling up homeowners and builders in red tape.
"At present, people who want to build a simple standalone dwelling on their properties need a building consent under the Building Act.
"In many cases, a resource consent under the Resource Management Act is also required as well.
"These processes are complicated, time-consuming and costly."
Farrell says he had a case in Wellington where a room needed converting into a unit, to accommodate a baby.
"The physical construction works were less than $10,000 but the consultancy and council fees were $50,000 to $60,000."
He thinks the new regime will create a market for importing relocatable pods.
However, he notes it won’t apply if there’s a private covenant or consent notice restricting development.
Vivian + Espie planner Carey Vivian says the change "could have a big consequence in this district".
But he points out, as Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has already advised, council will still charge development contributions,
"And that is essentially the upgrade to the infrastructure as a result of more residential living coming into it.
"A lot of people might look at these little pods for 30 grand and not think ‘I’ve got to pay a financial contribution of 20, 25 grand on top of that’, so that could sort of get people unstuck a bit."
Building a granny flat in the rural area, where you don’t rely on council services, means you’d pay less there, Vivian says, though there’ll still be some charge.
He’s interested in where granny flats will be allowed in the rural area as that’s "probably the most regulated in NZ".
"You have building platforms you’re allowed to build within.
"Does that mean you’re allowed to put a granny flat outside of that because you don’t need to go through the resource consent process?"
— Philip Chandler
A hint of things to come?
Comments made in the House last week by Housing Minister Chris Bishop indicate infrastructure help for Queenstown may be on the way.
Bishop notes the resort’s housing market is the most expensive in the country — about 14 times the average household income — but says "the best thing that Queenstown could do is let its city grow".
"When cities can’t grow, you end up with sky-high prices, sky-high rental prices, and people who are the workers in these towns can’t afford to get into the rental market in the first place."
Bishop says the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust is doing "an excellent job", but believes it’s struggling against "a market that makes it very difficult to build".
He says that’s "crazy" and "frustrating" given there’s "plenty of land" in the Whakatipu, and plenty of developers wanting to build.
But he also notes we have "infrastructure funding challenges, which we’re going to sort for them".
Queenstown-based Southland MP Joseph Mooney: "There’s been nothing that’s been announced as of yet, but that’s very promising to see Chris say that, publicly."
— Tracey Roxburgh
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