Visitor accommodation is defined under the District Plan as ‘the use of land or buildings for short-term, commercial, living accommodation where the length of stay for any one visitor is not greater than 3 months at any one time’.

Visitor accommodation includes things like renting out your own home (or holiday home) on a regular or irregular basis or renting out a separate building/sleep-out/minor unit on your property for visitor accommodation.

This does not include residential tenancies for greater than 3 months.

First you need to know what zone your property is located in.

Within Canterbury Map Viewer:

• Search for your address in the top left corner.
• On the 'Layer List' panel, search for, then select 'District Planning Zones'.
• Use + and - buttons to Zoom in and out.
• Click on the map to see which Zone your property is in.

Once you know your zone you can look at the table below and find out what rules apply to Visitor Accommodation on your property.

Note: For further details or standards relating to visitor accommodation activities within another zone, please refer to the District Plan including Section 15 – Transportation for car parking requirements

• *The standards for Residential 2 in Tekapo vary to the above, as such please contact a member of our planning team for further details

You will need to apply for resource consent from us.

This will give us the opportunity to assess your ‘visitor accommodation’ proposal and either grant or decline it.

You will need to submit the following:

• Completed and signed Resource Consent Application Form.
• Deposit fee
• AEE (Assessment of Environmental effects including a thorough description of your proposal, an assessment of the effects your proposal may have on the environment e.g. noise, parking, and how these effects will be addressed by you)
• Plans (Including full site plans and floor plans of the proposal)

Applications can be submitted to: planning@mackenzie.govt.nz or in person at Councils Main Office, 53 Main Street, Fairlie or by post to PO Box 52, Fairlie 7949

You are likely to need written approval from your neighbours for your ‘visitor accommodation’ proposal. We would recommend that where possible you obtain as many written approvals as possible. At a minimum, this should include immediately abutting neighbours and those across the road. This can make the process more straight forward.

Your neighbours should view and sign the plans and complete an Affected Person Approval Form.

There will be some cases however where, even if you manage to obtain written approvals, the application may be notified. A notified consent process generally takes more time and is more costly as it includes a public submission process and potentially, a hearing.

This is likely to be in cases where the number of people proposed to be accommodated on-site exceeds those limits outlined above by more than just a few people. In cases like these, we would recommend that you get in touch with the planning unit to talk through your proposal. We would also recommend that you seek advice from an independent planning consultant.

Generally a resource consent takes 20 working days to process, however if further information is required or if the consent is notified this will take longer.

If you have any further questions please email your query to: planning@mackenzie.govt.nz.

For more detailed information contact Council’s planning team (03) 685 9010, or engage an independent planning consultant.