Quick answer
The exemption covers one narrow shape of building and nothing else. Since 15 January 2026 you can build a new, detached, self-contained dwelling of up to 70 square metres with no building consent — but only if it clears every condition in Schedule 1A of the Building Act: single storey with no mezzanine, 4 metres maximum above floor level, floor no more than 1 metre above the lowest ground point under the footprint, at least 2 metres from every boundary and every other residential building, light steel or timber framing, roof cladding no heavier than 20 kg/m² and wall cladding no heavier than 220 kg/m². Miss one and you need a consent. There is no waiver route: section 67 does not apply.
Key points
- The 70 square metre limit is measured between the finished internal faces of the external walls, and an attached garage comes out of that same 70.
- A mezzanine or part-storey disqualifies the build outright, because the exemption is single storey and there is no version of it that isn't.
- The 1 metre floor-level limit is measured from the lowest point within the footprint, which is what catches sloping Auckland sites.
- The 2 metre separation applies to every boundary and every other residential building, measured to the exterior face of the cladding.
- Section 67 doesn't apply, so there is no Building Code waiver for a design that misses.
Eight gates. Miss one and the exemption is gone.
The plan landed as a 72 square metre flat at the back of a Papatoetoe section, with a loft over the bedroom end and a level-entry shower because Mum's knees are going. Every one of those three takes the exemption away on its own. The 72 is over the line. The loft is a second storey. The shower is a feature MBIE's own checklist sends down the consent route.
The headlines have been enthusiastic and vague: 70 square metres, no consent, off you go. What follows is the other half of that sentence — the conditions that actually disqualify people. We make the kitchens that go in these things out of our East Tamaki workshop, so the drawings cross our bench early, and the same mistakes keep coming round.
The numbers that decide it
Every condition is a gate. You pass all of them or you're in the consent system like everybody else. Read the middle column slowly — most of the arguments we watch play out are about what the words mean, not what the numbers say.
| Condition | The limit | What it disqualifies |
|---|---|---|
| Internal floor area | 70 m² or less, between the finished internal faces of the external walls | Anything bigger; an attached garage eats the same 70 |
| Storeys | Single storey, no part-storey or mezzanine | Lofts, sleeping platforms, storage decks |
| Height | 4 m max above floor level | Raked ceilings past 4 m; a raised floor buys no headroom |
| Floor level | 1 m max above the lowest point within the footprint | Sites falling more than a metre across it |
| Separation | 2 m min from any residential building or boundary, to the face of the cladding | Tight infill; building across an allotment boundary |
| Roof cladding | 20 kg/m² max | Heavy tile roofs — get the kg/m² in writing |
| Wall cladding | 220 kg/m² max | Generous: brick veneer, AAC and weatherboards all qualify |
| Framing | Light steel or light timber only | Structural steel; panelised construction |
| Natural hazards | Adequate provision against erosion, subsidence, inundation, slippage | Sites where adequate provision can't be made |
| Status | New, standalone, self-contained, single household | Garage conversions; part-built work; tiny houses on wheels |
70 square metres, measured inside the walls
Floor area means the overall internal dimensions between the finished internal faces of the external walls. That cuts both ways. In your favour: a thicker, better-insulated wall costs you no floor area. Against you: an attached or internal garage is included in the same 70, and a single garage typically swallows the better part of twenty square metres.
So the real brief is often nearer fifty square metres of living once the car is housed. No scullery, rarely an island, and the fight is over which wall the fridge goes on. The layouts that survive at this size are the honest ones: a galley, or a tight L. The moves that buy back some feeling of space are in making a small kitchen feel bigger, and the trade-offs are in the layouts explained.
Four metres, one metre, and how they stack
The height limit is 4 metres above the floor level — measured from the floor, not the ground. Raising the floor doesn't buy a taller ceiling; it lifts the whole envelope. That's why the raked-ceiling schemes with a clerestory over the living end come back marked no. Which makes slope the first thing to check, not the last: get levels across the footprint before anyone draws a plan.
Two metres from everything, measured off the cladding
The building must sit two metres or more from any other residential building and from any legal boundary, and it can't be built across a boundary between allotments. The measurement runs to the exterior face of the wall cladding — not the framing line. On a narrow rear site those hundred-odd millimetres of cladding and cavity are the difference between compliant and not.
Lightweight framing, but the cladding rule is generous
The frame has to be light steel or light timber. MBIE points to NZS 3604:2011 for timber and the NASH Standard Part 2:2019 for light steel, and sends heavier approaches — structural steel, panelised construction — down the consent route. Roof cladding is the tight one at 20 kg/m², with metal sheet, metal tiles of normal thickness and membrane systems named as lightweight; if someone wants a heavy tile roof to match the house, ask for the weight per square metre in writing. The wall limit is the surprise. At 220 kg/m² it's generous, and the guidance names clay masonry veneer, autoclaved aerated concrete and timber weatherboards as within it. Lightweight doesn't mean no brick.
One thing gets muddled: those limits govern roof and wall cladding, not what you put inside. Your benchtop isn't touched by them, and no, engineered stone is not banned in New Zealand. Australia banned it in July 2024 and much of the alarm circulating here is Australian copy lifted wholesale. MBIE consulted on options, WorkSafe publishes guidance, and general Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 duties apply — the issue is dust control in the fabrication shop, not the slab in your kitchen. That could change, but for now it's a legal choice: see stone versus laminate versus solid surface.
There is no escape hatch
This is the part that catches good designers. A granny flat must fully comply with all applicable Building Code requirements, and no waivers or modifications apply, because section 67 of the Building Act 2004 does not apply to granny flats. In a consented job a council can grant the consent subject to a waiver when something can't reasonably be met. That door doesn't exist here — nothing to apply for, nobody to ask. "No consent" is not a lower standard: it's the same Code applied to a detached dwelling, with fewer ways out and no inspections to catch you before it's lined.
No waivers. No modifications. No exceptions.
What it isn't: conversions, sleepouts, tiny houses
The exemption is for a new build. It cannot be an addition, an alteration or a conversion of an existing structure, and it doesn't apply to part-built buildings. This is the one that disappoints most people we talk to: half of Auckland has a big old garage down the back and a quiet plan to turn it into a flat.
Here's the distinction that matters, and it's why we care about any of this. MBIE separates granny flats from sleepouts, sheds and garages on exactly one basis: those aren't dwellings, because they lack the facilities to be self-contained — a bathroom or a kitchen. The kitchen isn't a nice-to-have you bolt on at the end. It's part of what makes the exemption apply at all.
Which is why ventilation deserves a real answer rather than whatever rangehood is on special. You're in a compact, well-sealed box and moisture has nowhere to go. A recirculating unit that pushes steam back into the room is a poor answer at this size, and if you're renting it out the Healthy Homes touchpoints for landlords land on the kitchen. Ducting through a lightweight roof is easy while the roof is open and miserable after, so settle ducted versus recirculating early.
Every one of these we get called into after it's gone wrong, the design was fine on paper. It's the site that fails it — the fall across the footprint, or a fence that was never the boundary.
What goes wrong
The area gets measured off the wrong thing — someone scales the external face, or works off a concept that counted the deck. Then the garage goes from detached to attached during design and nobody redoes the sum. Variations are the quiet killer. A change mid-build can push the job outside the conditions, and the moment it does the exemption no longer applies: you stop, get a consent before continuing, and you may need a certificate of acceptance for work already done. The heavier roof swapped in late, the loft added because storage was tight — five-minute decisions that undo the whole basis of the build.
People also conflate the two systems. Under the National Environmental Standards for Detached Minor Residential Units, minor residential units can often go up without a resource consent where the permitted activity standards are met — but MBIE is explicit that the two regimes operate independently. You can pass the planning standards and still need a building consent, or the reverse. And when the conditions turn out not to have been met, it lands late: insurers and lenders may want evidence, which bites when you sell or refinance.
Be realistic on that early. A compact kitchen is still a real kitchen: it needs a site measure, hardware that survives a tenant, and someone to hang the doors properly. Entry grade sits in the lower five figures plus GST, mid-range climbs comfortably into the mid five figures, and premium goes well past that — the same bands as anywhere else, set out in what a kitchen costs in Auckland. Small doesn't mean cheap; it means fewer linear metres and the same fixed costs.
What to ask before you sign anything
- What is the internal floor area, between the finished internal faces of the external walls, and does that include the garage?
- Has anyone put levels across the actual footprint, and what's the fall from the lowest point to the proposed floor level?
- Have the boundary pegs been located by a surveyor, and is the 2 metre dimension taken to the exterior face of the cladding?
- What are the roof and wall cladding weights in kg/m², confirmed by the supplier?
- Is the site affected by erosion, subsidence, inundation or slippage, and can adequate provision be made?
- Does the design lean on a Building Code waiver for anything — because there isn't one available.
Frequently asked questions
Does a granny flat built under the exemption still need a kitchen?
Yes, and it's more fundamental than it sounds. The exemption applies to a self-contained dwelling, and MBIE distinguishes granny flats from sleepouts, sheds and garages precisely because those lack the facilities to be self-contained, such as a bathroom or a kitchen. Cooking facilities, running water, sanitation and power are part of what makes the building a dwelling in the first place. Leave the kitchen out and you've built a sleepout under different rules.
Does an attached garage count towards the 70 square metres?
Yes. Floor area is the overall internal dimensions measured between the finished internal faces of the external walls, and an attached or internal garage may be included as part of that 70 square metres — it doesn't sit outside the number. A single garage typically takes the better part of twenty square metres, so housing the car can leave you nearer fifty for living. Keep the garage separate if you want the full 70 inside.
Can I add a mezzanine or loft just for storage?
No. The exemption is for a single-storey dwelling, and the conditions state it must not contain a mezzanine floor and cannot have a part-storey. It makes no difference whether you call it storage, a sleeping platform or an attic. Given the 4 metre height limit above floor level, there isn't much room for one anyway.
Can I use the exemption to convert my existing garage or sleepout into a flat?
No. The exemption applies only to new granny flats built after it commenced, and it explicitly cannot be an addition, alteration or conversion of an existing structure. Existing garages and sleepouts, and partially built buildings, all sit outside it. Converting one into a dwelling is a normal building consent conversation with your council.
If my design misses one Building Code clause, can I get a waiver?
No, and this is the condition with no workaround. Section 67 of the Building Act 2004 — the provision that lets a council grant a consent subject to a waiver or modification of the Building Code — does not apply to granny flats, so a granny flat must fully comply with every applicable requirement for a detached dwelling. MBIE's own checklist flags features like level-entry showers and solid fuel heaters as reasons to go the consent route instead.
Send us the plan, we'll price the kitchen
If your flat clears the gates, the kitchen is the next decision and it's one we make easy. Send the footprint, a rough layout, and whether it's going to a family member or a tenant — that's enough to price off. Drawings sharpen it, but we don't need them to start. You'll have a trade-priced number back inside 24 hours, plus GST, supply and install under one contract and one invoice.
We've been at this 23 years and put more than 2,000 kitchens in around Auckland, ten-plus a week out of the East Tamaki workshop, and a single kitchen goes in over five to seven days. That matters more on a granny flat than people expect: small site, often a shared driveway, a neighbour who didn't ask for any of this. We're Site Safe qualified and used to a head contractor's programme.