Using an agent to prepare your application

Using an agent to apply for consents on your behalf

You can nominate an agent to apply for resource and building consents on your behalf. Depending on the project, your agent could be:

• the project manager
• your lead contractor
• a designer, draughtsperson or architect
• an engineer
• a planning consultant
• a surveyor.

Get help with a resource consent application

Because resource consent applications can be very complex and require a lot of technical detail, it's best to nominate an agent to apply on your behalf.

Using an agent

We strongly recommend you hire a qualified planning consultant to help prepare and submit your resource consent application.

planningconsultants.org.nz – online planning consultants directory

Your agent could also be:

• a surveyor
• your lead contractor
• a designer, draughtsperson or architect.

Get help with a building consent application

We strongly recommend you get professional help with submitting building consent applications.

You may wish to submit smaller building consents yourself if you are familiar with the Building Code.

Using an agent

Use industry registers to find qualified tradespeople to contact:

• Licensed Building Practitioners register
• New Zealand Institute of Architects register
• Architectural Designers New Zealand
• Association for Consulting and Engineering Professionals directory (for specific, more complex design).

Choosing a designer or an architect – Building Performance

Project management – Building Performance

When choosing an agent to act on your behalf, you have the choice of becoming a collaborator in Simpli (our online consent application portal) or giving sole responsibility to your agent.

We recommend you ask your agent to send you an email invite to become a collaborator in Simpli. Accepting a collaborator invite from Simpli gives you access to all correspondence and updates relating to your building consent application. Find out more about collaborating with other users in Simpli help.

If you do not want to be a collaborator, you will not have access to correspondence and updates related to your building consent application. It is then your agent’s responsibility to update you on the progress of your building consent application and requests for information, which may generate additional fees.