What's the difference between a covenant/encumbrance/consent notice?

Both consents notices and covenants are ‘interests’ registered on certificates of title. These indicate that there are specific matters relating to your site that you must comply with.

Where consent notices and covenants differ is how they're imposed and who's responsible for enforcing them.

Consent notices are imposed by Council through the subdivision process. Council will enforce compliance with these.

Examples of consent notice include:

  • Restricting you to a certain building platform
  • Requiring a geotech report to be provided with application for building consent.

Covenants and encumbrances are usually private matters imposed by developers. Example of private covenants include:

  • Must finish construction within 12 months of being started
  • House must be a certain size.

Council is not responsible for ensuring compliance with private covenants and we don't get involved with enforcing these. It is a private matter between yourself and the developer to resolve.

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