Automatic consent extensions following Government resource management changes
The Government recently announced the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Act, which was processed under urgency and is in effect from 17 December 2025.
What is changing
Under this Act:
- All consents due to expire before or on 31 December 2027 will be automatically extended until that date
- Unless it is a water-related consent, and the extension to 31 December 2027 will take its duration beyond 35 years
- In that case, the consent’s duration will be extended to expire 35 years after commencement
What are we doing about these changes?
In response to the change in consents duration, we’re now contacting affected consent holders who have lodged with us a replacement consent application which hasn’t been determined yet. The options are to:
- withdraw the renewal application or
- continue with the processing.
If you haven’t lodged a replacement consent application yet
Affected consent holders who haven’t lodged a replacement consent application yet can choose to rely on their extended consent until it expires, noting that they:
- can only do the activity covered by the consent
- will need to continue complying with the existing consent conditions and any outstanding enforcement actions
- may need to apply for a new replacement application before the existing consent expires on 31 December 2027.
What happens next
In the new year, we will write to all affected consent holders who will have their consent extended with their new expiry date.
Need more information about the act: Visit the Legislation NZ website to read the full Act and understand how it may apply to you