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How resource consent fees work

Find out how resource consent fees are calculated and when you need to pay them.

1. Initial application fee (deposit)

When you submit your resource consent application, you’ll need to pay a deposit. We call this your initial application fee.

The fee you pay depends on:

  • the type of work or activity you want to do
  • if your application needs to be notified as it will affect the public or your neighbours.

Depending on your project, you may also need to pay additional fees, such as:

  • development contributions, for example if you’re doing a fee simple subdivision
  • additional processing fees – if your application is complex or you need to supply further information.

See all resource consent fees

Paying this fee

You'll need to pay your initial application fee when your application is submitted. You can pay online or in person. 

We won't begin processing your application until the correct fee has been paid.

2. Your application is assessed

When we've processed your resource consent and it’s ready to be issued, we may invoice you for additional fees if we spent more time processing the application than was covered by the initial application fee. This is more likely for complex applications or if information was left out of your application and we had to make a request for information (RFI).

If we spent less time than we anticipated processing your application, you may be issued a refund.

Note: In some cases, we may engage external resources such as specialist advisors to address either expertise or capacity that is not available internally. Where the cost of the external resource involved exceeds the Wellington City Council rates, it will be charged at cost.

When you need to pay any additional fees

Once you receive an invoice from us, you'll need to pay it by the 20th of the following month.

Late payments will incur:

  • an additional administrative fee (lesser of 10% of the overdue amount or $300)
  • all costs and expenses associated with recovery of the overdue amount, including debt collection or legal fees
  • daily interest (at 15%p.a.) from the date of default.

3. Monitoring fees while work is under way

Once you've been issued your resource consent and have started work on the site, you’ll be charged per hour for the time we spend monitoring the conditions of your consent. This will be invoiced to you as building work continues.

This includes time we spend on communication, research and site visits. The number of site visits you'll need depends on:

  • the size of your project
  • how well you're complying with your conditions.

Monitoring resource consent conditions

4. Certificates fees if you're subdividing

If you're subdividing, LINZ will need to issue you a new record of title once work has been completed. Before they can do this, we need to assess your survey plan, confirm compliance with the subdivision resource consent conditions, and issue a s223 and s224c certificate. 

The certificate fee covers the assessment of your plan and the issuing of your certificates.

You may be charged additional fees if:

  • you're subject to an amalgamation condition
  • we have to grant or reverse an easement condition
  • you're issued a consent notice to be registered against your new title
  • we spend more than 7.5 hours assessing your plan. 

Subdivide property

Contact us

The Resource Consents team is available Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Phone: 04 801 3590

Email: planning@wcc.govt.nz