Dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings policies

Managing dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings

All territorial authorities, or councils, are required by the Building Act 2004 (the Building Act) to manage dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings in their districts.

They are also required to adopt and maintain policies that state their approach and priorities for doing this and confirm how the policy applies to heritage buildings. These policies must be reviewed by the council every five years.

This page hosts guidance and resources to help ensure that councils:

• understand the requirements of the Building Act that relate to dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings
• are aware of the wider considerations that should be taken into account when they are developing and reviewing policies on how these buildings should be managed.

Dangerous buildings

Under the Building Act, a building is dangerous if any of the following conditions are met:

• Under normal circumstances, except for in an earthquake, it is likely that the building will cause injury or death to people inside or nearby, or cause damage to other property. 
• If it is likely to cause injury or death to people inside it or in other buildings nearby in the event of a fire. 

Affected buildings

In some situations, the risks posed by a dangerous building can affect other properties. An affected building is a building that is next to, joined to, or close to a dangerous building or a dangerous dam.

Insanitary buildings

An insanitary building is a building that presents a health or hygiene risk to the occupants or the surrounding environment. 

Guidance for dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings 

This guidance aims to help councils: 

• build an understanding of what constitutes a dangerous, affected or insanitary building, and the risks that they pose to people and communities
• understand their roles and responsibilities, and those of building owners
• understand the powers available to them to manage these buildings
• develop, review and adopt policies for managing dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings that allow them to meet their statutory obligations, while taking into account local needs.

The guidance outlines a three step process for managing dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings:

• Step one – identifying dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings
• Step two – assessments and recording the status of buildings
• Step three – taking action on dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings.

It also contains information about key considerations for councils to support them in developing effective policies for managing these buildings including:

• priorities for action
• applying the principles of the Building Act
• consulting with the community
• heritage buildings
• internal reviews of a council’s policy
• notifying the community on policy updates
• buildings that are excluded from policies on dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings.

Earthquake prone buildings

The Building Act contains separate requirements for the management of earthquake-prone buildings and council policies for dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings do not need to consider them.

Information about managing earthquake-prone buildings

Resources

Building inspection report template

This template has been developed to assist councils when they are assessing a building to confirm if it is dangerous, affected or insanitary.

Building inspection report template [PDF 52KB]

Building inspection report template [DOCX 42KB]

Process flowchart

This flowchart illustrates the process for identifying and managing dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings. 

Process flow chart [PDF 449KB]

View an accessible/HTML version of the flow chart

Contact

For more information or any queries on this guidance, email consentsystem@mbie.govt.nz 

All guidance related to Guides for building officials