Wāhinga whenua

The ability to subdivide your land is controlled by a number of factors.

These include:

• The availability of services (power, water, sewer etc) to the site
• The ability to provide safe access to the site
• Topograph and site constraints
• Any buildings already located on the site
• The size and shape of your site.

These factors can all impact on your ability to comply with the subdivision rules contained in the City Plan.

Minimum site size for subdivision

The minimum site size for subdividing varies depending on the zone your property is located in. This information can be found in the City Plan maps and Chapter 12 of the City Plan.

If you can’t work out if you have enough land area to subdivide, speak to a licensed cadastral surveyor to confirm what the net site area is.  You must also check the requirements of the Suburban Residential Zone Permitted Activity rules in the City Plan.

The subdivision process

Your application for a subdivion consent will include all the requirements of a standard resource consent application, but will also require a scheme plan to be drawn up by a licensed cadastral surveyor. The scheme plan will show the position of new boundaries, the areas of any new allotments, the locations and areas of new reserves to be created, and any areas to be set aside as new roads.

An approved subdivision consent will normally have a number of conditions that may relate to other approvals, such as building consent and engineering approvals. To apply for subdivision consent, please visit our forms page to download forms required to accompany your application.

There are also additional steps for subdivision consent under Sections 223 and 224 of the RMA that are required to be met before your site is subdivided.

Engineering compliance

Council’s Engineering Compliance requirements can be found in the Infrastructure Development Code (IDC).

Sections 223 approval and 224 approval

Obtaining your section 223 certification from Council demonstrates that your survey plan is in accordance with your approved resource consent. Council's section 224 certification confirms that all of the conditions of your subdivision consent have been met. This approval enables Land Information New Zealand to issue new titles. You need to make a separate application to Council for your sections 223 and 224 certifications. These processes can be done separately or together.

Development Contributions are payable at the section 224 stage.

Subdivision consent steps

The list below shows the steps for obtaining subdivision consent: 

1. Plans prepared by a licensed cadastral surveyor
2. Application submitted to Council - taking into account City Plan rules, objectives and policies
3. Approval for resource consent to subdivide issued
4. S223 survey plan approved by Council – this must be applied for within five years of S104 approval
5. S224c approval by Council – this must be obtained within three years of S223 approval to allow for the deposit of the plan with LINZ.

Subdivision costs

There are a number of costs involved in any subdivision process that an applicant should be aware of, including:

• Surveyor costs (contact a surveyor to find out what these are likely to be).
• Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) costs – your surveyor should also be able to advise on these.
• Council deposit fees for the application, 223 and 224 process – there may be extra charges for time and cost if an application is lengthy to process. Deposit fees are non-refundable.
• Development contributions.
• Costs involved in providing services such as water, sewerage, stormwater, electricity and telecommunications to each allotment.

A resource management professional or surveyor is best placed to inform an applicant of any additional costs outside of Council processes.