Consents
How long building consent takes, at every council
The national median is 9 working days of council processing and 16 working days total once your own responses to council questions are counted (January to March 2026). The legal maximum is 20 working days of processing time. Every consent authority is below, from MBIE's quarterly monitoring.
Total elapsed days is the number that matters to your project: it runs from lodgement to decision, including the time the clock is stopped while you answer requests for information (RFIs). Sorted fastest first.
| Consent authority | Total elapsed (median days) | Council processing | Applicant RFI time | Met 20-day timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kawerau | 5 | 3 | 17 | 100% |
| BCAL | 0 | 5 | 0 | 100% |
| Ruapehu | 6 | 5 | 4 | 98.1% |
| Waitomo | 7 | 5 | 8 | 100% |
| Wellington City | 7 | 4 | 1 | 96.3% |
| Kaikōura | 8 | 5 | 12 | 100% |
| Manawatu | 8 | 4 | 6 | 98.4% |
| Consentium | 9 | 1 | 25 | 100% |
| Kāpiti Coast | 9 | 6 | 7 | 98.4% |
| Carterton | 10 | 2 | 5 | 94.3% |
| Clutha | 10 | 7 | 3 | 97.9% |
| Far North | 10 | 7 | 8 | 99% |
| Invercargill City | 10 | 6 | 10 | 98.2% |
| Tararua | 10 | 8 | 13 | 98.6% |
| Tasman | 10 | 6 | 2 | 98.8% |
| Waimate | 10 | 10 | 1 | 76.3% |
| Buller | 11 | 6 | 3 | 95.9% |
| Dunedin City | 11 | 10 | 13 | 98% |
| Marlborough | 11 | 7 | 9 | 93.2% |
| Rangitikei | 11 | 8 | 4 | 96.3% |
| Rotorua Lakes | 11 | 7 | 9 | 100% |
| Selwyn | 11 | 7 | 3 | 98.4% |
| Whanganui | 11 | 6 | 6 | 100% |
| Gisborne | 12 | 3 | 10 | 98.3% |
| Waipa | 12 | 6 | 2 | 98.4% |
| Waitaki | 12 | 9 | 11 | 100% |
| Whakatāne | 12 | 5 | 8 | 100% |
| Christchurch City | 13 | 6 | 11 | 99.5% |
| Gore | 13 | 7 | 7 | 100% |
| Grey | 13 | 9 | 3 | 98.7% |
| Nelson City | 13 | 7 | 8 | 99.3% |
| Taupō | 13 | 9 | 6 | 100% |
| Waikato | 13 | 9 | 8 | 97.6% |
| New Plymouth | 14 | 9 | 12 | 98.5% |
| Waimakariri | 14 | 9 | 5 | 97.5% |
| Westland | 14 | 8 | 9 | 100% |
| Whangārei | 14 | 8 | 6 | 97.9% |
| Napier City | 15 | 3 | 9 | 100% |
| Palmerston North City | 15 | 6 | 5 | 97.3% |
| Hutt City | 16 | 11 | 6 | 97.8% |
| Kaipara | 16 | 9 | 8 | 100% |
| Timaru | 16 | 3 | 4 | 95.3% |
| Central Hawke's Bay | 17 | 14 | 4 | 81.5% |
| Central Otago | 17 | 11 | 6 | 88.3% |
| Masterton | 17 | 14 | 10 | 98.1% |
| Porirua City | 17 | 13 | 8 | 98.6% |
| Southland | 17 | 10 | 9 | 96.3% |
| Stratford | 17 | 9 | 7 | 98.3% |
| Thames-Coromandel | 17 | 9 | 10 | 96.4% |
| Hurunui | 18 | 13 | 12 | 96.2% |
| Mackenzie | 18 | 6 | 12 | 87.3% |
| Matamata-Piako | 18 | 12 | 5 | 97.3% |
| Queenstown Lakes | 18 | 7 | 6 | 90.3% |
| Western Bay of Plenty | 18 | 15 | 6 | 98.5% |
| Ashburton | 19 | 13 | 10 | 89% |
| Hamilton City | 19 | 12 | 10 | 98.1% |
| South Waikato | 19 | 13 | 4 | 98.9% |
| Upper Hutt City | 19 | 15 | 9 | 90.9% |
| Hauraki | 20 | 14 | 7 | 97.3% |
| Horowhenua | 20 | 16 | 10 | 96.2% |
| Tauranga City | 20 | 10 | 11 | 91.3% |
| Wairoa | 20 | 12 | 14 | 100% |
| South Wairarapa | 21 | 9 | 17 | 96.1% |
| Ōtorohanga | 21 | 8 | 13 | 83.3% |
| Hastings | 22 | 7 | 51 | 98.7% |
| South Taranaki | 22 | 11 | 15 | 97.2% |
| Ōpōtiki | 22 | 8 | 15 | 77.8% |
| Auckland | 28 | 15 | 19 | 86.2% |
Source: MBIE Building Consent System Performance Monitoring, Q1 2026 (MBIE). Medians are for building consent applications; regional authorities are excluded by MBIE due to low application numbers. Consentium and BCAL are private consent authorities. MBIE calculates each column's median separately, on different sets of applications, so the columns do not add up and can look inconsistent for small authorities.
How to keep your consent fast
The gap between a council's processing days and the total elapsed days is mostly RFI time, and MBIE's analysis attributes about 66% of RFIs to missing documents, 10% to incorrect documents and 5% to misalignment between architects and engineers. Lodging a complete, internally consistent application is worth more than picking a fast council. What consents cost is on our consent fee comparison.
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