There is no new RMA. There are two new laws.
The Planning Act covers houses, land and infrastructure. The Natural Environment Act covers water, air, soil and pollution. The old RMA keeps running until the new plans are built.
What’s actually changing
The RMA tried to do everything at once. The Planning Act handles land use and development. The Natural Environment Act handles environmental limits. Each has its own tests and its own plan-making process.
The Planning Act narrows what counts as a valid objection. Private views and street character are out. Hazards, environmental limits, heritage and process errors are still in.
Existing consents, current plans and live applications keep running under the RMA. The new system turns on region by region as new plans are built, targeting full operation around 2029.
The two laws
Land, buildings, neighbours, zoning, infrastructure.
- Noise
- Shading
- Vibration
- Hazards
Water takes, discharges, air, soil, biodiversity limits.
Warning. When a new suburb hits a water limit, there is no simple “housing wins” sticker. Ministers will referee through national direction.
What you can no longer argue
- ✕Private views
- ✕Visual amenity / character
- ✕How a building sits on its own site
- ✕Trade competition
- ✕“If you allow this everyone will do it”
- ✓Flooding and slips
- ✓Shading a neighbour’s living room
- ✓Noise
- ✓Listed heritage
- ✓Outstanding landscapes
- ✓Sites of significance to Māori
- ✓Breaching an environmental limit
Five plain-English examples
Granny flat in Auckland
You want a minor dwelling in your backyard. Council checks setbacks, height and coverage. A neighbour can object on amenity grounds. Your shed blocks their sun.
If your granny flat meets the national standards, you build it as of right. No consent. No neighbour vote on the look.
For standard builds, the question moves from “may I?” to “does it meet the standard?” Council checks compliance, not feelings.
Terrace houses on a character street
A developer proposes three terrace houses on a street with villas. Neighbours object the buildings are out of character. Council holds a hearing. The panel weighs visual amenity heavily.
The Planning Act drops visual amenity and streetscape character as grounds to oppose a complying build. If the site meets the zone rules, character objections do not stop it.
You can still care what your street looks like. You just cannot use the consent process to enforce that on someone else’s land.
Farmer expanding irrigation and effluent discharge
You apply to take more water and discharge effluent. Council processes two linked consents under the RMA. Both assessed against regional plan rules.
The Natural Environment Act sets hard limits for water take and discharge. If your farm is within the limit, consent is simpler. If the catchment is over-allocated, no consent fixes that.
The question shifts from “can I get a consent?” to “is there room in the limit?” Check the catchment before you spend on consultants.
Bush SNA mapped across a back paddock
Council maps a Significant Natural Area over your regenerating bush. You can challenge the mapping in a hearing. You have no right to compensation.
The Natural Environment Act keeps SNAs but adds a right to ask council for relief. Rates relief, cash, bonus rights, or a land swap. When an overlay seriously restricts your use.
If an overlay wrecks your building platform, you no longer just wear it. Start a file: valuation before and after, and a relief request.
New substation or water pipe in a 30-year spatial plan
A network utility wants to build a substation. It applies for consent and designation under the RMA. The project is assessed one site at a time.
Major infrastructure must be locked into a 30-year regional spatial plan. If it is in the plan, the path is faster. If it is not, you face a longer route.
For big projects, the fight moves earlier. From the consent hearing to the spatial plan. Get on the map before the plan is set.
The calendar
Third reading passed. Royal Assent next
Transitional consenting starts
First national rules
Regional spatial plans
Land-use and environment plans
Full system on
Many already extended to 31 Dec 2027, then likely stretched again after transition
Do not plan a build on a press release. Plan on the Gazette.
What you should do this month
- 1Live applications stay under the RMA
- 2Expiring consents: confirm the 31 Dec 2027 extension in writing
- 3Ordinary builds: design to national standards so they can be permitted
- 4Big projects: get on the spatial plan map
- 5Overlay wrecks your land: start a valuation / relief file
- 6Objecting: drop character theatre, file on hazards, limits, heritage, process error