Chris Penk: Construction Minister on the garden shed and garage building rules getting loosened

Rules are being slashed for homeowners building small garden sheds and sleep-outs. 

The Government today announced there will soon be no boundary distance rules for detached buildings smaller than 10 square metres. 

Currently, the distance must at least match their height.

Construction Minister Chris Penk explained that the rules needed to be updated for people trying to do more with less space.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we have a little bit more slashing of red
tape for homeowners. Government has decided you're going to be
able to build yourself a single story building under ten
square meters, so think a small garage or shed or
something like that on the property on the property boundary
without any mandatory set back distance. For buildings that are
slightly bigger ten to thirty square meters, the mandatory set
back distance will be reduced to one meter. Previously you

(00:22):
had to get consent for that kind of stuff. Chris
Pink is the Minister for Building in Construction High Chris, Hello, Heather.
How far out would you have had to build it
in the past.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, it depends on the size of the shed, but
the usual rule is that the height of the shed
dictates the distance that you need to have set back
from the boundary or another building. So just making it
a bit more clear cuts and straightforward, as well as
a bit freer for people to do what they like
in their own backyard.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Right, So, if you're building a shed that I don't know,
let's say, is a couple of meters high, and sometimes
you do, then it's a couple of meters back from
the fences.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It currently yes, but we're going to do a blanket rule.
If it's less than ten square meters, so obviously floor area,
then you can go right up to the fence and
you know, up to thirty square meters that becomes one meter.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
What was the justification for that setback, Well.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
There's a reasonable point to be made about fire safety.
But when you have a blanket roll and you don't
think about the likelihood of something that's going to start
a fight in a very small structure, I mean under
you know, up to ten square meters you can barely
fill a box of matches in and you're certainly not
having heavy machinery or people living their best life in there.
So you know, just a bit of a proportionate approach

(01:33):
is actually the smallers, the less risk its and therefore
the closer you can get to the boundary. And obviously
in a world where people are trying to do more
with less space, that kind of makes sense for the
modern age.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
So you don't have to get building consent now. But
do you still have the file paperwork and stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
No, so totally.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Paperwork free, like the count doesn't need to know a
thing about it. You just put up your she had
in a way you go.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, we happen. I mean, to be fair, we're not
we're not changing anything that regard. But a previous rule
change from a while back had been that you don't
need a building consents and therefore to go through the
full pilavora of records and so on, and if you're
under thirty square meters.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
I read that this came through the tip line. Are
you getting a fairly decent sized level of kind of
suggestions through that tip line?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, there's been some really good ones actually, I mean
this is one that caught my eye, but actually also
caught David Seymour's eye. So today's announcement was a bit
of a joint venture. Who as regulation minister, you know,
controlling the tip line or listening carefully to what's out there,
and it just so happened to fall within my remit
as building and construction. So we both rocked up to
the site where someone had dubbed themselves in for having
an unlawful shed and we thought we could make the

(02:41):
problem go away. So we did.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Have you got eyes on what's coming through that tip line?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
I don't as a matter of course, but when they
fall within one of my portfolios, and building and construction
tends to be the one that you get a lot
of these niggles and inconsistencies and uncertainties. Then then you know,
David and his team give me head up, which is
really good.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Has he given you a heads up on any other ones?

Speaker 2 (03:04):
No, but other ministers who are in relevant areas would,
So you know, it's a cleverative effort because we're on
the same page. You know, we've got to, you know,
unblock the difficulty that people have living their best life,
not doing anyhow to anyone else.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
I'm nosy because I'm really enjoying this type line, so
I want to know everything. Anyway. Listen, Chris, we have
we've got a bit of a construction construction slump going on,
and apparently it's we're now in a renewed slump. Are
you worried about what's going on here?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, it's obviously been a really tough time for the
last few years, so I mean, there's nothing new about
that within within the last few years. It's not that
the middle of this year is necessarily worse in the
middle last year, but the difficulty has been that people
had hoped and expected that by now we would be
out of it. So we've really stabilized at a low
level and in turn having cycles of boom and bust

(03:49):
isn't new for the sector, but it's been a long
one and so that's why we're really keen. Apart from
getting the macro economic settings right with inflation under control,
interst rates coming down and all the things that then
stimulate people to want to be able to build, we
also know we've got to make the rules easier for
people when they do get to that place. Otherwise we'll
just prolong the effect because it will take that much
longer for people to get the consents and do the

(04:11):
build good stuff.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Chris, Thanks very much, Chris Pink, Minister for Building and Construction.
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