Costly consent delays justify reforms, as median time for commercial approvals revealed

25th March 2025 By Staff Reporter | news@propertyticker.co.nz | @propertyticker

The median processing time for commercial building consents was 16 days for the year to December 2024, with 82.5% approved within the statutory timeframe of 20 days.

But the number of requests for information across commercial and residential consent applications revealed in the latest Building Consent System: Performance Monitoring report, which added more days to the process, has prompted the government to proceed with reforms.

Construction Minister Chris Penk said that the additional time was adding thousands of dollars in costs for developers.

“For the first time, we have consistent nationwide data proving statutory timeframes are masking problems,” Penk said.

“Councils are stopping the clock on applications by requesting additional information, extending processing times beyond the official 20 working day target.”

Penk said the complete annual data or 2024 painted “a stark picture”.

“Two-thirds of applications required a request for information (RFI), adding an average of nearly 12 extra days to processing times.

“That’s 12 more days of projects stalling. Time is money for our tradies and officials estimate a 12 working day delay because of an RFI could cost around $4,000 per dwelling. Last year, 94,362 applications triggered an RFI.”

Penk said that type of delay was why the government was pushing ahead with “the most significant building consent reforms in a generation”.

“In the next few months, we will finalise decisions on major initiatives to speed up the process.

“These include streamlining inspections, enabling trusted builders to sign-off their own work, restructuring Building Consent Authorities to ensure they are fit for purpose, and adopting a more balanced approach to liability for defective work.”

The Building Consent System: Performance Monitoring report showed that there were 12,401 commercial building consent applications in 2024, as well as 9,574 code compliance certificates applied for.

For residential, there were 61,408 applications, which took a median of 13 days to process, with 61,057 code compliance certificates applied for.

For both commercial and residential applications, which totalled 74,220, the median processing time was 14 days. Of those, an estimated 64.3% of applications prompted a request for information .

“Among those applications that had an RFI, the median time it took applicants to respond was 11.6 working days,” stated the report.

“Applications with RFIs take longer to process. The median processing time for applications with an RFI is 11.4 working days, almost double that of applications without an RFI.”

The Building Consent System: Performance Monitoring report can be read here.