Summary of granny flats consultation feedback
Read the summary of the feedback received during the recent granny flats consultation in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) report.
The Government recently sought public feedback on options to make it easier to build granny flats.
For 8 weeks between June and August, MBIE and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) ran the ‘Making it easier to build granny flats (2024)’ public consultation. The consultation looked at:
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Options to enable granny flats to be built without needing a building or resource consent, so long as they met certain criteria, and
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The main goal of finding the balance between speed, safety, and risk to ensure New Zealanders have safe, healthy and durable homes, built as quickly as possible.
Summary of granny flat consultation feedback
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Almost 2,000 submissions were received for this consultation, showing a strong public interest in these proposals. There was particular interest from homeowners and those working in the building industry – with these groups representing around a third of the responses.
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While submitters generally supported the intent to make it easier to build granny flats, they indicated that changes should lower the risk of building failure, improve consumer protections, fairly assign liability and avoid environmental risks, for example from natural hazards.
- Overall, while there were mixed views on the sufficiency of current registration and licensing regimes across different submitter groups, feedback indicates there is agreement that building work should be completed or supervised by qualified professionals able to carry the associated liability.
What’s next now we have the feedback
Using the feedback received from the consultation, we will be developing further advice for the Government on the proposals to make it easier to build granny flats.
It is expected that the changes to the Building Act 2004 and the new National Environmental Standards for granny flats will both come into effect in 2025.
While this work is underway, we will also prepare the necessary resources for implementing the changes to the Building Act. This includes producing guidance material and other resources to support the understanding around building granny flats without needing a building or resource consent when it becomes law.
For more information and to view further feedback, please visit
Making it easier to build granny flats (2024)(external link) — MBIE