How it works
Development contributions are a payment made to the Council that pay for the impact that new developments have on services and infrastructure, such as water supply and waste water.
Projects that might require a development contribution include:
- new houses, flats or apartments
- subdivision of land
- adding a new unit/dwelling, including an extra kitchen or kitchenette to an existing dwelling
- adding to the gross floor area of a commercial building
- converting some or all of an existing residential dwelling into commercial space, or vice versa
- new retail, commercial or office space or warehouse buildings.
When you don't need to pay
Development contributions may not be required if:
- the Council has imposed a condition for a financial contribution on a resource consent for the same purpose
- the developer has made a private agreement with the Council to provide network infrastructure upgrades or reserves in lieu of paying a development contribution
- the Council receives funding from a third party.
Fees
Council staff will work out how much you need to pay when your development is assessed for its building consent, resource consent or service connection.
The fees are calculated based on where the development is located and the number of equivalent household units (EHUs) created by the project.
You pay one EHU for each:
- residential development with more than one bedroom – for example, a house, an apartment or a self-contained unit
- allotment of land within a fee-simple subdivision
- 42m2 of floor area in a non-residential development.
If your residential development will have only one bedroom or is a studio, the fee will be 0.7 EHU.
Download the list of development contributions by location (91KB PDF)
For more information, refer to our full Development Contributions Policy.
EHU credits
In some cases, you may be able to get EHU credits to offset against what you need to pay.
For residential developments, a credit only applies if there is an existing dwelling that you are either:
- demolishing and rebuilding – you get a credit for the existing dwelling on the same site
- changing from a one bedroom dwelling to a multiple room dwelling – you get a 0.7 credit for the existing dwelling, and will need to pay the difference of 0.3 EHU.
For commercial developments, credits are based on the number of square metres. They will only apply if you are:
- demolishing some or all of an existing building and rebuilding on the same site (if you are demolishing a residential building, there is a maximum of 1 EHU credit per residential dwelling)
- altering an existing commercial space into multiple residential units.
For more information, refer to our Development Contributions Policy
Contest your assessment
If you want to contest the Council's assessment of:
- a residential development, you can request a remission hearing
- a commercial development, you can do a self-assessment then request a re-assessment.
The first step is to contact the Development Contributions Officer. They are available Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm or by email: developmentcontributions@wcc.govt.nz.
How to pay
1. Get an estimate from the Council
The Council will assess whether you need to pay a development contribution and send you an estimate when you apply for a:
- resource consent (for fee-simple subdivisions)
- building consent
- service connection.
2. Complete the work
Once you have completed the work and you apply for a code of compliance certificate, a section 224(c) certificate or a consent for a service connection the Council will calculate the final development contribution amount and send you an invoice for this amount.
You won't get your code compliance certificate and/or your section 224(c) certificate until the development contribution has been paid.
3. Pay the fee