Does a shed or sleepout need building consent?

Four clauses of Schedule 1 cover small buildings.

Schedule 1 of the Building Act lists the work that needs no building consent. Four of its clauses are about a small detached building, a shed, sleepout or garden studio, and which one applies depends on its size and how it is built.

• Every exemption, on one page

Over 10 m², it also keeps 1 m clear.

The three routes for 10–30 m²: walls and roof of lightweight products, built to B1/AS1 for timber or steel as it stood on 28 November 2019; a licensed building practitioner who designs, builds or supervises it; or a kitset or prefab whose maker had a chartered professional engineer design or review it, built to that design.

Building Act 2004 Schedule 1 clauses 1AA, 3, 3A, 3B and 43

Add plumbing and it needs a consent.

Any of these missed and none of the four clauses covers it. MBIE measures the floor area to the inside of the walls or posts. A granny flat is a different exemption, with its own rules.

Building Act 2004 Schedule 1 clauses 3, 3A, 3B and 43 · MBIE, notes for single-storey detached buildings

• Granny flats ≤ 70 m²

A 10 m² shed may sit on the boundary, but fire still applies.

All building work must meet the Building Code, consent or not, and the owner answers for it. MBIE's notes for small buildings name each of these, and add that a sleepout on a septic tank should check the tank can take the extra people.

Building Act 2004 ss 14B, 17 · MBIE, notes for single-storey detached buildings

• What still applies to exempt work

A buyer will not find it on the file otherwise.

MBIE advises lodging the drawings, specifications and photos of exempt work with the council, so its records match what is on site when the property is sold.

Building Act 2004 s 216 · MBIE, work you can do without a building consent

• Selling, insurance and the property file