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Building recovery

Building Recovery Team   Building recovery

Following Cyclone Gabrielle Hastings District Council stood up a new building recovery team to assist residents with stickered (placarded) properties.

If your property has been stickered refer to the information below or download our information pack. 

Building Recovery Information Pack

 

Coloured stickers (placard) on buildings – what do they mean?

Following a major weather event such as flooding, homes may have a rapid assessment, which is an initial check to ensure human life and safety.

Following an assessment, a building or home will receive either a white, yellow or red sticker (placard). These are a legal notice and should not be changed or removed unless you have permission from the building recovery team.

If your building or home has a sticker that is yellow or red, contact your insurer first. You may need to use a suitably qualified tradesperson or chartered professional engineer to do repairs or further inspections.

Once repairs are completed (please note some repairs may require a building and/or resource consent), contact us at buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz to have any restrictions reassessed.

The building may have suffered little or no damage and can be used. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean the building is safe, there could be unseen damage.

If your building has received a white sticker, speak to your insurer about any further assistance you’d like. White stickers will expire 21 days after the date it was posted and can then be removed from the building and kept for your records.

To part(s) of the building only (Yellow 1)

The building may have moderate damage and access is restricted. Access is restricted to some of the building only. This means you cannot access the restricted area(s) noted on the sticker (placard).

If you own the building, you’ll need to contract a qualified tradesperson or chartered

professional engineer to do the repairs or further inspections. You should talk to your insurer about this work.

Once the repairs have been completed (please note some work may require building and/or resource consent), contact us at buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz

Short term entry only (Yellow 2)

The building may have moderate damage and access is restricted. Access is restricted to short-term entry only. This means you cannot stay at the property.

If you own the building, you’ll need to contract a qualified tradesperson or chartered professional engineer to do the repairs or further inspections. You should talk to your insurer about this work.

Once the repairs have been completed (please note some work may require building and/or resource consent), contact us at buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz

The building cannot be used and entry is prohibited because it has sustained moderate or heavy damage or may be at risk from external factors and poses a significant risk to health or life.

If you own the building, further investigation and repairs are required before the building is safe to use. A red sticker doesn’t automatically mean it’s all over for your house - it means there is a safety issue - don’t go near it.

If access is needed for an insurance assessor, to retrieve personal items or to undertake any remedial work, please ensure you engage the services of a suitably qualified person i.e. Licensed Building Practitioner or engineer to undertake an initial risk assessment, to identify and remove any immediate hazards before entering. 

Contact us at buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz or call 06 871 5000 if you have any queries.

Pathways for repair  Building repairs

A.  Building consent exemptions for damaged buildings (building work that doesn't require a building consent)

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has produced a quick guide to provide information on what building work may not require a building consent.

This quick guide should be read in conjunction with the guidance from the discretionary exemptions below (B) and guidance from your insurance company.

View the Building consent exemptions quick guide here.

B.  Discretionary Exemptions

Some work doesn't need a building consent. The following work is exempt under Building Act 2004 Schedule 1. item 2:

Replacement of thermal or acoustic insulation in external walls.

  • Replacement of wall linings that provide wall bracing.
  • Replacement of floor linings and coverings.
  • Replacing wet area showers.

Please note that building consent exemptions do not extend to damage that is:

  • a result of land failure or movement,
  • relating to a fire separation (such as a fire wall), or
  • flood repair work to commercial or industrial buildings.

C.  Building Consent

Where a building consent is required follow the standard process for applying. Design professionals will be familiar with this process.

Our building recovery team will be focused on processing applications for building consent which are required to enable people to return to their buildings if they have been prohibited by a red or yellow sticker (placard).

Please note: Depending on the scale of your remediation you may need resource consent as well as a building consent.

Additional information on Applying for a building consent can be found here.

Next steps

Once work has been completed, Council building officers will need to re-visit your house and sign off the work before the sticker can be removed from your property and you can move back in. Please contact our building recovery team on buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz for more information on this.

Additional information

Rates

Properties that have been deemed uninhabitable (red stickered) are being granted a rates remission. Usually, we ask home owners to apply for this but in the case of Cyclone Gabrielle, we are automatically granting a rates remission during the period people’s properties are officially marked as uninhabitable. Initially this will be for the third and fourth instalments of the 2022/23 rates year. Council has also put a temporary stop on direct debits on any red stickered properties (Council will contact affected ratepayers before reactivating these direct debits).

For properties with a yellow sticker, property owners are requested to complete an application form and Council will provide either a remission or postponement (payment plan) for the third and fourth 2022/23 rates instalments.

  • For a remission to be granted, the yellow sticker must be on the main dwelling/building on the property (i.e. primary residence).
  • If the main dwelling/building is usable (white or no sticker) but a yellow sticker has been applied to another building(s) on the property (i.e. workshop, storage unit, sleepout, cabin etc.), rates will not be remitted however payment can be postponed for a period of time, determined between Council and the applicant (but no later than 30 June 2025).

Once the application is received, Council’s Rates team will get in contact to work through the application and where required, discuss postponement details and future payment plans. The application form is available from Council offices or can be downloaded below.

Any remission applied (for both red & yellow properties) will only apply to rates until 30 June 2023 and will then be reassessed for the 2023/24 rating year.

Given the challenges people may have had paying their rates over the past couple of weeks, Council has also made the decision to remit penalties applied for late payment on the third instalment that was due for payment on the 24th February 2023.

Rates relief application for yellow stickered properties.

Flood-damaged items collection

Council is working through flood-affected communities to collect flood-damaged household items and building waste, such as carpet, wet GIB, furniture and other damaged items on your property. Residents can also request FlexiBins to dispose of their flood-damaged household items.

Learn more about flood-damaged items collection here.

Tenancy information

If you are the tenant or landlord of a rental property, you can find information on your rights and obligations at www.tenancy.govt.nz or by phoning 0800 TENANCY (0800 836 262).

Taking care of yourself

Feeling all sorts of emotions is normal in difficult times. If you need to talk free call or text 1737 anytime for support from a trained counsellor.

Visit here for tips on coping after a natural disaster and looking after yourself.

Silt removal

Many areas have been inundated with silt from the flood waters and there are concerns regarding the level of contamination of the silt. The silt will be rapid-tested when collected to measure any levels of contamination and to ensure contaminated and non-contaminated silt is kept separate. Silt that is not contaminated or has a low level of contamination will be repurposed.

Please check the EQC factsheet here about removal of silt

Residential: Sites for the disposal of clean silt from residential sections have been identified. Property owners need to arrange to have the silt on their properties and from under their homes piled onto the verge outside their home (not in the gutter), or front garden if the verge is not large enough. It will be picked up and disposed of by contractors, with the pile pick-up and disposal council-funded. All sites are only able to be accessed by contractors.

Rural: Regionally, sites that can take clean silt from rural properties are being managed by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. Silt needs to be gathered into a pile on the owner’s property in an area that is accessible by truck, with the pile pick-up and disposal council-funded. All sites are only able to be accessed by contractors.

To advise an address for rural or residential silt collection please call 0800 108 838 and wait to speak to an operator (don't select an option). You will be asked a few questions to enable our collection teams to select the right collection and disposal options.

Please note: We are asking residents to provide information on the general make-up of the silt to allow our team to select the right site for disposal. We don’t expect residents to sift through their silt, but rather to assist our teams to be informed and prepared to deal with the collection.

Roads, gutters and drains: In Hastings and Napier, sites suitable for contractor access to take clean fill, from the likes of roads, stormwater drains and gutters, have been identified and are in use. All of the sites identified are only able to be accessed by contractors.

Click here for a full list of FAQs relating to silt collection.

FAQs

If you are insured this should be your first contact to discuss the damage to your property. They will advise the process they need you to follow relating to assessment and repairs. They will also advise about the likely building professionals which they will engage, or they will provide you with approval to engage your own professionals.

If you aren’t insured we recommend making contact with a licensed building practitioner yourself to work through your remediation process. They should be able to advise you what approvals you may require for consent in order to comply with the relevant legislation.

This will depend on the sticker you have and the amount of work you need to do before having it re-assessed. Once the required work has been completed Council’s building inspectors will re-inspect the building, and if all issues are resolved, the building will be given a new status.

Contact our building recovery team on buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz for more information about the re-assessment process.

Before you start the process of cleaning up, the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) offers some important recovery and related insurance advice.

Visit the Insurance Council of New Zealand here for more information.

You can also find helpful information in their consumer guide for Cyclone Gabrielle insurance recovery advice here: www.icnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ Consumer-guide-Cyclone-Gabrielle-insurance-recovery- advice-Feb-2023.pdf.

If you’re not ready to start work you don’t need to immediately. If insured, we do recommend contacting your insurer as soon as possible.

Yes you can do the required work yourself. Please note all building work must comply with the building code, regardless of the requirement for consent (section 17 of the Building Act 2004).

Some work does not need a building consent. The following work on flood-damaged homes is exempt under Building Act 2004 Schedule 1, item 2:

  • Replacement of thermal or acoustic insulation in external walls.
  • Replacement of wall linings that provide wall bracing.
  • Replacement of floor linings and coverings.
  • Replacing wet area showers.

Please note that building consent exemptions do not extend to damage that is:

  • a result of land failure or movement,
  • relating to a fire separation (such as a fire wall), or
  • flood repair work to commercial or industrial buildings.

Before you start:

While Council has exempted the above work, another party (such as an insurer or lender) may require you to obtain a building consent before carrying out the work. You may also choose to obtain a building consent so a record of the work completed is in your property file.

All building work must comply with the building code, regardless of the requirement for consent (section 17 of the Building Act 2004).

 

Civil Defence offer advice to help rebuild your home if you live in a flood prone area.

This includes:

  • habitable floor heights
  • placement of electrical outlets
  • recommended wall and floor coverings.

Visit Civil Defence for more information.

We have a team dedicated to building recovery and will do our best to get their as quickly as we can. Timeframes will depend on the number of properties we need to get to and where they are.

Please contact our building recovery team on buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz or call 06 871 5000.

We suggest using people with appropriate qualifications, skills and experience who are either part of an industry organisations. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has guidance on its website on choosing a design professional.

Short-term entry may be permitted after consultation with Council’s building recovery team, on a case-by-case basis, and subject to appropriate supervision. If you need to get into your building, please have a suitably qualified person such as a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) or engineer undertake a risk assessment prior and identify, remove or isolate any obvious hazards.

Please contact our building recovery team on buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz for more information.

Not necessarily. The Government has announced categories under which the future of flood and landslide affected properties will be assessed. These are:

  1. Low Risk – Repair to previous state is all that is required to manage future severe weather event risk. This means that once any flood protection near the property is repaired, the home can be rebuilt at the same site.
  2. Managed Risk – Community or property-level interventions will manage future severe weather event risk. This could include the raising of nearby stop banks, improving drainage or raising the property. (Category two is split into three sub-categories as outlined in table below).
  3. High Risk – Areas in the high-risk category are not safe to live in because of the unacceptable risk of future flooding and loss of life. Homes in these areas should not be rebuilt on their current sites.

Keep an eye on our cyclone update page or sign up to our newsletter for more information on risk categories.

Mark Mitchell the Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery or alternatively, you may wish to contact Catherine Wedd (MP for Tuki Tuki).

Council has established a team to support owners in getting their homes or buildings back to a safe and sanitary standard.

Support and assistance may be available through:

  • Hawke’s Bay Disaster Relief Fund. Visit HBDRF for more information.
  • Ministry of Social Development’s Civil Defence payments, please contact them on 0800 400 100.

More information on building recovering following Cyclone Gabrielle can be found here.

 

If you have a question that hasn't been answered please call 06 871 5000 or email buildingrecovery@hdc.govt.nz

Additional resources

If your property has been affected by natural hazards, including flooding and landslips, you may find the following links helpful:

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