Do you need a building consent for a pergola or louvre roof?

An open pergola: no consent

Schedule 1 of the Building Act lists building work that does not need a consent. A pergola is on that list with no size limit. The catch is the word pergola. It means an open framed structure with no roof: beams and rafters or slats that give partial shade but do not keep the rain off. Add polycarbonate sheets, shade sail fabric fixed permanently, or louvres, and most councils no longer treat it as a pergola.

A roofed structure attached to the house

A covered area attached to the house is usually treated as a veranda or porch. Schedule 1 exempts a veranda or porch on the ground floor up to 30m² in floor area, as long as it is built to the Building Code and does not compromise the structure or weathertightness of the house it is fixed to. Above 30m², or if it is on an upper deck, a building consent is normally required.

A freestanding roofed structure

A freestanding louvre pergola comes under the rules for detached buildings. Up to 10m² it is exempt with few conditions. From 10m² to 30m² it can still be exempt, but the structure has to be designed by a chartered engineer or a licensed building practitioner, or be a kitset that has been designed to the Building Code by its supplier. Ours are. Over 30m² you need a consent.

Exempt does not mean no rules

• The Building Code still applies. Wind loading matters for a roof that closes, and a louvre roof is designed to shed water, so the gutters and downpipes have to go somewhere sensible.
• Distance to the boundary. Anything with a roof generally has to sit at least its own height away from the boundary, or the neighbour has to agree in writing, unless it is small enough to be exempt from that rule too.
• District plan rules on site coverage and height in relation to boundary can trigger a resource consent even when no building consent is needed. This is a council by council question.
• Stormwater. Closing a 20m² roof over a deck sends a lot of water somewhere. Councils care about where.

So what do we actually recommend?

Tell us where the pergola is going, how big, and whether it is attached to the house. We check the exemption and the district plan rules for your address before you order, and if it needs a consent we say so and price it in. Most residential louvre roofs under 30m² do not, but the answer for your section is the only one that counts.

General information based on Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 as amended. It is not legal advice, and councils interpret the pergola and veranda exemptions differently. We confirm what applies to your site before anything is ordered.