Subdividing your property

Find out about what you need to do to subdivide your property.

Subdivision is the process where you create a new lot or Certificate of Title that can be separately owned by another person.

Subdivision consents apply to activities such as:

  • creating a new freehold title, which means the landowner (and any of their beneficiaries) owns the property outright
  • creating a cross-lease, which is where a number of people own an undivided share in the ownership of a piece of land, and the homes they build on the land are leased from the other landowners
  • creating a unit title development, where the owners own a defined part of the building, such as an apartment, and share ownership in common areas such as lifts, lobbies and driveways
  • changing a boundary.

A subdivision consent normally has a number of conditions that may require building consent and engineering approvals.

To find out if you can subdivide a site, you need to know the District Plan rules about the ‘activity areas’ (or zones) in Hutt City.

  1. Use the Hutt City District Plan maps, to find the property affected by your proposal.
  2. Click ‘Street index’ to find the street in which your property is located. Note the ‘sheet number’.
  3. Go back to the index page and click ‘Urban map index’ or ‘Rural map index’ (whichever applies). Go to the sheet number that covers the area of your property.
  4. Zoom in to find your property, then use the legend at the bottom of the map to identify the ‘activity area’ for that location.
  5. Open the rules of the District Plan and select the relevant activity area document.
  6. The ‘Rules’ section in the activity area document specifies the activity classifications (permitted, controlled, restricted discretionary, discretionary, non-complying and prohibited). You can now identify the types of activity you’re allowed to do and the type of resource consent you'll need.

You need to employ a surveyor to prepare your subdivision resource consent application, and the necessary scheme/survey plan.

You can find local surveyors by doing a google search or in your local yellow pages. You can also talk to our resource consents team for advice.

Your application will take around 20 working days to process – as long as you’ve provided us with all of the information we need.

Notified consents

If your subdivision proposal doesn’t meet the minimum lot size requirement for the activity area, we may ask for your neighbours’ consent or notify your application.

Resource consent applications can be ‘non-notified’, ‘limited notified’ or ‘fully notified’.

we approve your application because either there are no effects or the effects are minor, and where relevant you've got written approval from the affected parties (Affected parties are people who might be more interested in, or more affected by, your activity than the general public. They are usually your immediate neighbours, but can also include people who are farther away.)

We write to any affected parties from whom you don’t have written approval and invite them to make submissions on your application. They have 20 working days from the day they receive our letter to make a submission

We consider that the effects of your proposal are significant enough to invite the wider public to make submissions. This can result in a hearing at Council.

If your subdivision creates additional allotments you’ll also have to pay:

  • 'Financial contributions' if your subdivision creates additional allotments. These contributions generally acknowledge the additional demand placed on our facilities and services. They are one-off payments that are separate from rates. You can read more detail about them in Chapter 12 of the District Plan
  • An engineering fee based on a percentage of the construction costs of any new access or Council service. The percentage ranges from 3.43% for one new lot created to 0.7% for more than 40. Additional charges on an hourly rate basis may apply.
  • A 'reserves contribution fee', which is between 5.5% and 7.5% of the value (provided by an independent valuer) of each additional allotment. The fee is capped at $10,000 per lot for residential subdivisions and $5,000 per lot for rural subdivisions. It's determined by taking into account the reserves available in the area, the amount of open space proposed within your development and the proposed vegetation protection as part of the subdivision
  • a development contribution fee
  • registered surveyors’ fees
  • legal fees
  • construction fees.

Your subdivision consent will include a number of conditions, including what you need to do to:

  • Supply detailed engineering plans for engineering approval
  • Carry out physical works and get council to inspect as required. This may include:
    • laying water, wastewater and stormwater pipes
    • sealing new driveways
    • installing power, gas and phone connections.

Once physical work like this has been completed, we’ll approve the subdivision via:

  • ‘section 223’ (of the Resource Management Act) certification, which confirms that your survey plan matches what was granted in your resource consent. You need to apply for section 223 certification within five years of our initial consent approval
  • section 224(c) certification, which confirms that you’ve met all the conditions of your consent or will meet them later. You must apply for this certification, which enables Land Information New Zealand to issue new titles, within three years of your section 223 approval.

Apply online for your 223 or 224(c) certification

When you make your application, you must also:

Note: Once the new Certificates of Title have been issued by Land Information New Zealand, rates will be payable on the new lots.