What can I do if my property didn't have a building consent when it was built?

A Certificate of Acceptance (COA) may be issued by Council for work that did not have building consent when it should have had. 

• It allows for certification of work that has, for example, been carried out urgently because of safety issues and where there hasn't been time to apply for consent because of that emergency, or where an owner believed that the building work was exempt.
• Only building work completed after 1 July 1992 will be considered for a Certificate of Acceptance.
• Retrospective building consents cannot be issued.

Council has the discretion as to whether a Certificate of Acceptance is issued, contact our building team for more clarification at building@codc.govt.nz