Certificate of Acceptance (COA)

A Certificate of Acceptance is an acknowledgement that the building work, or part of it, complies with the Building Code (and any subsequent or additional information such as Producer Statements, PIMS, Compliance Schedules, plans and drawing etc.). Note that a Certificate of Acceptance is not equivalent to a Code Compliance Certificate.

The legal jargon for this is that the TA is “satisfied to the best of its knowledge and belief and on reasonable grounds, that, insofar as it can ascertain”.

The TA can limit its liability to the extent that it was able to inspect the building work.

Certificates of Acceptance cannot be issued if the building work was carried out prior to 1 July 1992 (the date when consents were first mandatory). Under the Building Act 1991, the equivalent informal  “certificates”   were known as ‘Safe and Sanitary Reports’, where a consultant or Council could inspect the building to ensure it was safe and sanitary and therefore not a risk. The 2004 Act removed the Safe and Sanitary Report provisions and thus we have the CoA and its provisions.

Similar to other Building Consent processes, a Territorial Authority has 20 working days from the date the Certificate of Acceptance application is received to decide on the application. This timer is paused during requests for more information.

Note that a CoA is not an exemption from the other requirements of the Building Act.

It is possible that even when a Certificate of Acceptance has been issued, the Authority still has the ability to issue Notices to Fix and bring charges if required.

For example, if work was carried out without Building Consent, even with a CoA, there might still be charges laid under section 40 of the Act. 

This was the case in O'Byrne v Waimakariri District Council, in the Christchurch High Court, where a hay shed was built without Consent but up to Code. Despite the issue of a Certificate of Acceptance, a section 40 charge was still brought against the owner.

Auckland Council v Wong, [2020] NZDC 23613

• This case is an example where a lack of “any urgency in obtaining any Certificate of Acceptance for the building work” influenced the sentencing of breeches under the Act.

Marlborough District Council v Bilsborough, [2020] NZDC 9962

• This case contains debate on whether a Notice to Fix for a Certificate of Acceptance was the appropriate mechanism to use in relation to a Tiny House.

Banora v Auckland Council, [2019] NZHC 2545 

• This is a case where there were two years from receiving the notice to fix to applying for the Certificate of Acceptance.

Jayashree Ltd v Auckland Council, [2019] NZDC 2407

• This case involves a refusal of a Certificate of Acceptance on the basis that the Authority was unable to directly inspect the work.

O'Byrne v Waimakariri District Council, HC Christchurch CRI-2011-409-65, 25 August 2011

• This case concerns a hay shed that was built without Consent but up to Code.

Gibbs v New Plymouth District Council, HC New Plymouth CRI-2008-443-28, 4 June 2009

• This case examines how rights under Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and Maori Reservations Regulations 1994 interact with Certificates of Acceptance.
  
  

2020/025: Regarding the authority's decisions to issue a dangerous and insanitary building notice and a Certificate of Acceptance

• Issue of a dangerous and insanitary building notice and a Certificate of Acceptance in respect of a sleepout, whether the authority was correct to include a 'restriction of usage' within the issued Certificate of Acceptance.

2020/013: Regarding the refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance

• Refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for internal work to construct two rooms inside a pole shed, discussion of the scope of the work covered by the application for a Certificate of Acceptance and the reasons given for the refusal.

2019/048: Refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for plumbing and drainage work associated with a shipping container used as a mortuary

• Refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for plumbing and drainage work that was carried out without Building Consent, conversion of a shipping container for use as a mortuary, connects to an existing foul water drainage system that services a dwelling on the property.

2018/035: Refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance and the issue of a notice to fix for alterations to a building

• Alterations carried out without a Building Consent and refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance and to issue a notice to fix whether the building work was exempt work.

2018/015: Notice to fix and the refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for alterations

• Note: The decisions in this Determination were confirmed on appeal to the District Court. See: Auckland Council v Jayashree Limited (District Court, Auckland, 14 February 2019, CIV-2018-004-00820).
• Consideration of the authority’s decision regarding a Certificate of Acceptance.

2017/052: Refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for recladding a 22-year-old building

• Regarding two applications made for a Certificate of Acceptance for the recladding of an existing building: the work has been undertaken without a Building Consent having been issued.

2017/043: Certificate of acceptance issued subject to qualifications for substituted imported composite slate roofing tiles on a house

• Consideration of exclusions listed in a Certificate of Acceptance issued for the installation of imported composite slate roofing tiles.

2017/020: Decision to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for building work

• Regarding remedial work to a house, the Code Compliance Certificate excluded the amended work, which was regularised through the issue of a Certificate of Acceptance, but was excluded from the Code Compliance Certificate.

2016/018: Regarding the issue of a notice to fix for a two-cell earthship building

• Whether a two-celled rammed earth building constructed without consent was exempt under Schedule 1 and whether the authority was correct to issue a notice to fix, and also issues relating to an application for a Certificate of Acceptance.

2016/015: Regarding the refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for remedial work to the membrane roof and parapets of a house

• Refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance for remedial work to a membrane roof and parapets, discusses the lack of inspections, the information available, and whether the building work was exempt from the requirement for a Building Consent.

2016/009: Notices to fix and the refusal to issue a Certificate of Acceptance in respect of the conversion of a double garage over a boundary

• Regarding building work carried out without consent to a double garage built across the boundary of two properties, whether there was a change of use, the grounds for refusing to issue a Certificate of Acceptance, and the issuing of multiple notices to fix.

2015/064: Authority's exercise of powers of decision in refusing to grant consent for an addition to an existing building

• Concerning Building Consent for an addition to an existing building where a change of use has occurred without approval and where building work had been carried out without consent when consent was required.

2015/034: Authority's exercise of powers in refusing to issue a Code Compliance Certificate for a 1 year-old house with profiled metal roof cladding

• Refusal to issue a Code Compliance Certificate where the as-built work differs from that consented and was also not in accordance with the Acceptable Solution E2/AS1 or the manufacturer’s details, review of the as-built work against the performance requirements of the Building Code.