Consents, LIMs and Unconsented Work: What Surfaces When You Sell

Paperwork is the quiet reason sales fall over. Not the price, not the market — a buyer's lawyer finds something on the LIM, the deal stalls, and the property goes back on the market carrying a question mark. Understanding what the documents show is worth doing before you list rather than during.

This page describes what these things are. It is not advice about your property, and if any of it applies to you the people to speak to are a property lawyer and a licensed building practitioner.

What a LIM is

A Land Information Memorandum is a report the council prepares about a specific property. It typically covers rates, zoning, known hazards such as flooding or erosion, drainage, and the consent history the council holds — building consents issued, and whether a code compliance certificate followed.

Buyers commonly make an offer conditional on a satisfactory LIM. Councils charge a fee and take some working days to produce one, and timeframes vary by council and season.

What a code compliance certificate is

Under the Building Act 2004, most building work needs a consent before it starts and a code compliance certificate, the CCC, once it is finished. The CCC is the council's confirmation that the completed work matches the consent that was granted.

A consent issued with no CCC recorded against it is one of the things a buyer's lawyer looks for. It does not automatically mean anything is wrong — certificates are sometimes simply never applied for once the work is done — but it is an open question, and open questions on a title tend to get priced in.

Where unconsented work comes from

Most of it is not anybody being deliberately evasive. Common examples include a deck or carport added by a previous owner, a garage converted to a sleepout, internal walls moved, a bathroom added, or plumbing altered. Some work is exempt from requiring consent under Schedule 1 of the Building Act; a lot of the work people assume is exempt is not.

The important part for a seller is that it usually surfaces. It shows up when a buyer orders a LIM, when a builder's report notes something the file does not, or when the floor area on the council record does not match the house.

Why it matters at the point of sale

Three reasons, roughly in order of how much they cost you.

• It creates uncertainty, and uncertainty is discounted. A buyer who cannot tell what the exposure is will assume the worst, or walk.
• It can affect finance and insurance. Lenders and insurers may take a view on unconsented structures.
• The standard agreement contains warranties. The sale and purchase agreements in common use in New Zealand include vendor warranties about consents and compliance. Signing one is a legal act with consequences, and what those warranties commit you to is a question for your lawyer, not for a website.

There are established routes for dealing with historic work, including applying to the council for a certificate of acceptance. Whether any route fits a particular property depends entirely on the property, the work and the council.

What sellers commonly do before listing

Rather than telling you what to do, here is what tends to happen in practice. Owners often order a LIM on their own property before going to market, so that anything on it is known to them first rather than discovered by a buyer. Many also locate the paperwork they hold — consents, certificates, plans, invoices from tradespeople — because a buyer left to establish the history themselves will price in the uncertainty.

Where something looks unclear, the people qualified to sort it out are a property lawyer for the legal position, the council for what is on their file, and a licensed building practitioner or building surveyor for the physical work.

What we are not saying

We are not telling you to disclose, not to disclose, to fix, or to leave anything. Those are legal questions specific to your property and your circumstances, and getting them wrong has real consequences. Online Appraisal is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Talk to a property lawyer before you list if any of this is relevant to your home.