Holiday accommodation resource consents

Holiday accommodation providers – it’s time to check if you need resource or building consent

Nelson City Council invites holiday accommodation providers in the residential zone* to check their activity meets both planning and building requirements. This ensures both the safety of the occupants and minimises impact on neighbours.

Planning rules under the Nelson Resource Management Plan (NRMP) allow for homeowners to offer accommodation as short-term rental without resource consent provided that owners:

  • live at the property for at least one month of the year and refer to the property as their home address, and
  • the property has capacity to accommodate up to four travellers only at any one time.

However, resource and building consents may be required if the rental facilities are self-contained or the above permitted standards are not met.

Quick guide – do you need resource consent to provide holiday accommodation?

*To check whether your property is zoned as residential within the NRMP:

  • Go to the NRMP Maps on ePlan
  • Click on ‘layers’ in the top right-hand corner and select the checkbox ‘NRMP zones’
  • Click on the search icon and type in your address
  • If you are in the yellow-coloured zone your property is residential and you will need to check if you need consent.

What happens if holiday accommodation providers don’t get resource consent?

If you provide holiday accommodation without a current resource consent (or building consent if applicable), and do not meet the consent exemption requirements, Council will follow up and work through next steps with you.   

Do holiday accommodation providers need building consent?

New Zealand’s building legislation recognises some building work does not require a building consent. Generally, this is work where no structure is changed or cosmetic work such as replacing or altering a dwelling’s internal wall, ceiling and floor finishes. For more information, go to canibuildit.govt.nz  

Before you use a residential building for short-term accommodation, you need to consider if the If the building is changing its use, you must show Council that the building will comply with the building in its new use and obtain written acceptance of that. Go to building.govt.nz/change-of-use-and-alterations for more info.  

Find out more

To find out more about resource consents, go to nelson.govt.nz/what-is-a-resource-consent

To apply for a resource consent, go to nelson.govt.nz/apply-for-resource-consent

To find out more about building consents, go to nelson.govt.nz/what-is-a-building-consent

To get help on whether your holiday accommodation requires consent and how to apply, please phone 03 546 0200 to make an appointment with either the duty planner or duty building officer.

Please note: Nelson City Council’s resource consents team is receiving a steady demand for resource consent applications, and currently demand is outpacing delivery as we, like other areas of the country are facing staffing issues.

These issues include a nationwide shortage of experienced and qualified planning staff as well as unprecedented illness due to COVID-19.

This means we now have a waiting list for allocating resource consents to a planner and we may not be able to process consents within the timeframes identified in the Resource Management Act (RMA). Please note the current situation will also impact the timeframe for replies to general queries and non-urgent matters.