The council rules are not the only rules.
A site can comply with the district plan completely and still not be allowed the building your client wants. In newer subdivisions the tighter constraint is often a covenant registered on the title by the developer, and it will not appear in any council check.
If you design sheds, garages, carports or anything that reads as an outbuilding, this is the document that decides the job.
What a covenant does
A land covenant is a registered restriction on how the land can be used or built on. The developer usually puts it in place to protect the look of the subdivision, and it binds every owner who comes afterwards.
It sits on the Record of Title as a registered interest, with an instrument number.
What they typically restrict
The exact terms vary, but in NZ subdivisions the recurring ones are:
Outbuildings. Some prohibit them outright. Some allow them only in matching cladding, or only behind the building line, or only under a stated floor area.
Cladding and colour. Restrictions on materials, and often on roof and wall colour ranges. Unpainted or profiled steel is a common target.
Roof pitch and form. Minimum pitches that rule out low-slope designs.
Minimum floor area. A floor on how small the house can be, which is not a council concern at all.
Time limits. A requirement to complete construction within a set period of settlement, which changes the client's programme.
Fencing, landscaping, parking. Down to fence height and where a boat or caravan may sit.
Approval by the developer. Many covenants require plans to be approved by the developer or a design panel before building. That is a step with a queue attached.
Why they catch people out
Three reasons, over and over.
The client doesn't mention it. They were told at purchase and forgot, or their lawyer covered it in a report they skimmed two years ago.
It isn't a council matter. A covenant is a private agreement between landowners. The council will not enforce it and generally will not raise it. Consent can be granted for a building the covenant forbids.
Enforcement comes from the neighbours. The people who can act on a covenant are the other owners it benefits, and they act after they can see what has been built.
How to check it
1. Order the Record of Title. Look through the registered interests for a land covenant, and note the instrument number.
2. Order the instrument. The title tells you a covenant exists. The instrument contains the actual restrictions. There is no way to guess the terms from the title line, and covenants on neighbouring lots in the same subdivision are not always identical.
3. Read it against the brief before you draw. Cladding, colour, pitch, floor area, position, approval process. Five minutes with the document at the start beats a redesign later.
4. If it needs developer approval, start that early. It is a real timeline, and it is not yours to control.
What to tell the client
If the covenant rules out what they want, the answer is not automatically no. Covenants can sometimes be varied or removed with the agreement of the parties who benefit, and there is a legal process for it. That is their lawyer's territory, not yours — but knowing it exists is the difference between delivering bad news and delivering a next step.
Where the title stops
The title records registered covenants. It will not tell you about an informal understanding with a neighbour or a body corporate rule that sits outside the title. And this is not legal advice — if a covenant changes what your client can do, that is a conversation for their lawyer. We supply the official record so the conversation starts from the document.
What to order
A Record of Title with Diagram is NZ$42.90 and arrives in about two hours. It lists every registered interest, including covenants and their instrument numbers.
An Instrument (Document) is NZ$39.90 and is the covenant itself — the terms that decide what you can design.
If you check titles regularly, we run trade accounts with prepaid packs and monthly invoicing. See title checks for trade.
Read the covenant before you draw the plans.
