Owner-Builder Exemption
You can build, renovate or repair your own home using the Owner-Builder Exemption, but you still need to meet Building Code requirements, apply for any consents and let your council know.
Owner-builders are able to carry out or design restricted building work (RBW) on their own home.
You are an owner-builder if you:
• live in or are going to live in the home (includes a holiday home)
• carry out the RBW on your own home yourself, or with the help of your unpaid friends and family members, and
• have not, under the owner-builder exemption, carried out RBW to any other home within the previous three years.
Using the Owner-Builder Exemption
Before you can use the owner-builder exemption you need a written declaration showing that you meet the owner-builder criteria. The statutory declaration form has to be witnessed and signed by a Justice of the Peace or someone else authorised by law do so. This form needs to be given to the Council with your application for a building consent, or before the construction of RBW on your home starts.
It is an offence under the Crimes Act 1961 to give false information in a Statutory Declaration, and it is also an offence under the Building Act 2004 to give false information.
