A Land Information Memorandum (LIM) identifies the information held by the Council concerning any building consent or permit for existing buildings or structures. In some cases however, the Council's records may be incomplete, and there is a building in existence. The absence of Council's records for building permits or consents may mean any of the following:

• The building was erected without a permit or consent
• The Council no longer holds a record of the permit (past bylaws allowed for some records to be discarded after 10 years from the date of issue)
• The property was in the ownership of the Crown when the building was constructed and did not therefore require a permit.

If building work has been carried out without a permit or building consent then there is no authority under the Building Act 2004 or any prior building legislation to retrospectively issue a building consent for the work. The Building Act 2004 provides that a Certificate of Acceptance may be issued where work has been done without a building consent. A Certificate of Acceptance will provide some verification for a building owner/future building owner that part or all of certain work carried out complies with the Building Code. A Certificate of Acceptance may only be issued in relation to building work carried out after 1 July 1991.

For buildings erected prior to 1 July 1991, without any building permit or for which Council holds no records, then Council is generally unlikely to take any action against the current owners of that building unless the building is dangerous or insanitary in terms of the Building Act 2004 or the provisions to the Health Act 1956. This assumes that the building complies in all other respects with other statutory requirements.

For work undertaken after 1 July 1991, for which the Council holds no record, it is likely that the building work was carried out without consent. If so, the property owner and the person who carried out the work may have contravened the relevant building legislation and enforcement action may be taken at the Council's discretion. If purchasers of properties require a report on a building they should engage a qualified builder or designer to inspect the building and provide the report. The Council is happy to put a copy of this report on the property file.

Basic building, such as laying a patio or installing kitchen cupboards, does not require a building consent, but most more complicated household projects do.

If you are considering building or plumbing work, you should contact Council.

For more information, visit the Building Act 2004 website www.building.govt.nz