Does a deck need building consent?
Not where the fall from it is ≤ 1.5 m, even if it collapsed. From 1 m it needs a barrier.
- Building Act 2004
- F4/AS13rd Edition Amendment 21 Jan 2017
- NZS 3604:2011
One clause, measured by the fall.
Clause 24 of Schedule 1 exempts a deck, platform, bridge, boardwalk or the like from which nobody could fall more than 1.5 m, even if it collapsed. Building Code clause F4 asks for a barrier from a 1 m fall, whether the deck has a consent or not.
The fall, not the deck's size, decides.
MBIE's examples: a 500 mm deck for a level entry, and a 50 m² deck 900 mm up on two sides of a house, need no consent. A platform 1.7 m up, and decks off the upper floors of apartments, need one.
Building Act 2004 Schedule 1 clause 24 · MBIE, exempt building work guidance 7.1
No consent is not no barrier.
The barrier is part of the deck's building work: it has to meet F4 whether the council sees it or not. It does not make the deck need a consent.
Building Act 2004 s 17, Schedule 1 clause 24 · NZBC F4.3.1
Landscaping can take a deck past 1.5 m.
MBIE's example: a platform at a back door where landscaping lowers the ground ends up 1.7 m up, and needs a consent. MBIE points to NZS 3604 for timber decks, read with B1/AS1's changes to it.
Building Act 2004 ss 14B, 17 · MBIE, exempt building work guidance 7.1, and ensuring exempt work complies
Key takeaways
- A deck needs no consent where the fall from it is ≤ 1.5 m, even if it collapsed.
- From a 1 m fall it needs a barrier to F4, consent or not.
- Measure to the finished ground, after any landscaping. NZS 3604 covers the timber framing.