Source
https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/projects-and-consents/granny-flats-exemption/granny-flats-exemption-guidance.pdf — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
MBIE Granny Flats Exemption Guidance (December 2025)
RESOLVES RT_338 — and it is the good outcome
The Building Act Schedule 1A exemption does NOT require a principal dwelling on site, and MBIE explicitly contemplates more than one exempt dwelling per site. The building-consent limb and the resource-consent limb (NES-DMRU) “can operate independently” — MBIE’s own words. So the ~$4,000/dwelling consent saving IS available at community scale. What a community cannot escape is the resource consent.
Summary
MBIE Building Performance’s authoritative guidance (75 pp, December 2025) on the Building Act 2004 Schedule 1A exemption, inserted by the Building and Construction (Small Stand-alone Dwellings) Amendment Act 2025. A new, standalone, single-storey dwelling of ≤70 m² may be built without a building consent, subject to conditions, with a PIM obtained before work starts and notification to the council on completion.
Its decisive contribution to Neobiome is a negative finding that turns positive: the Schedule 1A exemption carries no principal-dwelling requirement. “Standalone” is a physical condition (not connected to other buildings), not an ownership or ancillary one. The ancillary-to-a-principal-dwelling rule belongs only to the NES-DMRU (the RMA/resource-consent limb), and MBIE states the two regimes operate independently. This settles the question left open by OT_102.
Key claims
- claim: "The four statutory exemption criteria councils must advise on (new Building Act s35A), verbatim: the council attaches an additional information document to the PIM 'indicating whether the proposed build is likely, unlikely, or unclear in meeting the following exemption criteria: - it is standalone - it is new (that is, it is wholly new and not an addition or alteration to existing building work or an existing building) - it has a floor area that is equal to or less than 70 square metres - it is single storey only'. THERE IS NO PRINCIPAL-DWELLING OR EXISTING-DWELLING CRITERION."
source_location: "p.~13 (council obligations under s35A); pdftotext lines 555-565"
- claim: "'Standalone' is a PHYSICAL condition, not an ownership one (verbatim): the granny flat must be 'single-storey - one-storey only, without a part-storey or mezzanine floor'; 'standalone - not connected to other buildings and complying with all Building Code requirements for a detached dwelling'; 'a dwelling that is intended for a single household or family'; 'a new build - it cannot be an addition, alteration or conversion of an existing structure.'"
source_location: "'New, single storey, standalone and self-contained', p.24"
- claim: "MULTIPLE exempt dwellings on one site are explicitly contemplated (verbatim): 'If the granny flat will be manufactured offsite, a PIM is only required for the final location. If more than one granny flat is proposed on a site, a separate PIM is required for each dwelling. In this situation a resource consent may also be required.'"
source_location: "PIM section; pdftotext lines 1459-1461"
- claim: "The two consent limbs are independent (verbatim callout): 'The NES-DMRU and the building consent exemption can operate independently.' And: 'The granny flats building consent exemption operates alongside the resource management system... This guidance covers the requirements of the granny flats exemption under the Building Act only.' The NES-DMRU applies in residential, rural, mixed-use and Maori purpose zones; 'Building a granny flat may still require a resource consent in certain circumstances.'"
source_location: "'Resource consent' section, p.~7; pdftotext lines 255-276"
- claim: "PIM is mandatory and precedes all work: 'Section 32(1)(b)(ii) of the Building Act specifies that an owner may apply for a project information memorandum for a small stand-alone dwelling. Section 32(2) specifies that no building work can begin on a small stand-alone dwelling before the project information memorandum has been issued.' A fee may be charged; the PIM application must include preliminary design plans and a description of the proposed building work."
source_location: "PIM section, 'What the law says' box"
- claim: "Development contributions: the council issues 'a development contribution notice stating that payment is due within 20 working days of completion of building work'. Councils may also issue a Notice to Fix if the building is unsafe or non-compliant."
source_location: "Council obligations (s35A list)"
- claim: "Additional approvals may still be required for: 'network utility connections - approval from water, wastewater, stormwater, electricity or gas providers'; 'resource consent - a resource consent may be required depending on compliance with the National Environmental Standards for Detached Minor Residential Units (NES-DMRU) and the relevant rules in the local regional and district plans under the Resource Management Act 1991'; 'vehicle crossings'; and 'land use restrictions - such as easements, covenants, or consent notices that affect where and how you build.'"
source_location: "'Additional approvals' list; pdftotext lines 1717-1724"Neobiome Intelligence relevance
Resolves RT_338 — the exemption IS usable at community scale. OT_102 (BRANZ BU704) established that the NES-DMRU is a granny-flat rule (a minor unit ancillary to a principal dwelling, common ownership, same site) and left open whether the Building Act limb inherits that restriction. It does not:
| Limb | Community scale? | Consequence for the model |
|---|---|---|
| Building Act Sch 1A (building consent) | ✅ Yes — no principal-dwelling criterion; >1 exempt dwelling per site explicitly contemplated (one PIM each) | The ~$4,000/dwelling consent saving is real and bankable at N dwellings — a genuine CapEx lever |
| NES-DMRU (resource consent) | ❌ No — ancillary minor unit only | Resource consent is not escapable; district/regional plan rules govern |
The saving is therefore a CapEx line the model can carry, while the resource consent remains the binding gate — which is the harder one anyway, since OT_102 showed it also returns wherever there is on-site wastewater disposal (the off-grid case).
The OT_102 design forks are UNDISTURBED
Nothing here softens the Schedule 1A conditions. The exempt dwelling still “cannot include a solid fuel heater” and its frame must still be “lightweight… steel or timber”. Earth-wall construction (rammed earth, CSEB) and wood heat remain foreclosed for any dwelling taking the exemption. The choice is: lightweight timber/steel + heat pump + the saving, or earth mass + wood heat + a full building consent.
Costs that survive the exemption (so the model must not treat it as “free”): the PIM fee, development contributions (payable within 20 working days of completion), network-utility connection approvals, vehicle crossings, and any easement/covenant/consent-notice constraints.
Research targets
Research gaps
- None new. RT_338 RESOLVED (→ this source). RT_339 advanced to partial — the MBIE guidance package is retrieved; the NES-DMRU 2025 regulations themselves remain to be sourced.
Notes
Authoritative MBIE Building Performance publication (not AI-prepared), December 2025, ISBN 978-1-991409-39-3 (online) — data_quality: high. Retrieved by curl from building.govt.nz 2026-07-14 (WebFetch was 403-blocked; curl with a user-agent succeeded). Read via pdftotext -layout; all quoted conditions verified verbatim.
Provenance discipline — this is guidance, not the statute
MBIE administers the Building Act and this document quotes the operative sections, but the statute itself is the Building and Construction (Small Stand-alone Dwellings) Amendment Act 2025, which inserts Schedule 1A. At the time of this ingest Schedule 1A’s own wording had not been read —
legislation.govt.nzreturned only a navigation shell to WebFetch. The Act has since been supplied (as at 24 October 2025) and is queued for ingest as the primary. Until then, treat the conditions recorded here as MBIE’s rendering of Schedule 1A, not as the schedule’s verbatim text. (Thekey_claimsabove are verbatim from the guidance, which is what this page is.)
Connections
Links to
Referenced by
Sources (2): REG_007 · REG_008
EDT domains (1): D04: Sustainable Habitat & Building Technology
Concepts (1): Regulatory Consenting for Off-Grid Communities…