Alterations and Additions
Before you start, make sure your planned alterations or additions comply with both Auckland Council regulations and the society's rules.
Making changes to your home
Auckland Council and the Hobsonville Point Residents Society share the same objective: protecting homeowners’ investment and enjoyment of their properties. The rules exist to manage development and to prevent alterations that would negatively affect neighbouring properties.
Complying benefits everyone, and preserves the distinctive character of a masterplanned area built to high urban design standards.
You have obligations
Your certificate of title includes HPRS membership and the rules that come with it. These rules sit alongside standard Auckland Council requirements and cover matters such as:
- The external appearance of buildings
- Fence and landscaping upkeep
- Rainwater tank maintenance
The focus is on publicly visible facades, so that the streetscape and design standards are maintained.
How to check your proposed changes will comply
Step 1: Visit Auckland Council
Check Auckland Council’s building and renovation projects pages to find out whether your proposal requires building consent.
Work that usually needs consent
- Building new dwellings, sleepouts, garages or large sheds
- Decks higher than 1.5 metres
- Structural extensions, adding windows or altering the exterior facade
- Major plumbing, gasfitting or electrical rewiring
- Earthworks, or the removal or demolition of a building
Work that usually does not need consent
- Routine maintenance and minor repairs
- Painting, decorating, and replacing interior flooring or kitchen cabinets
- Small garden sheds or low decks that meet the specific criteria in Schedule 1 of the Building Act
Both lists are a summary. The full version is Check if you need consents on the Building Performance website, and it is the one to go by.
Step 2: Ask HPRS
Send us your application details, including measurements, sketches and photos. Professional architectural or planning advice may be necessary for more complex projects.
Even alterations that do not require building consent need HPRS approval, because the society’s rules operate separately from Council requirements.
General maintenance and repainting in the original colours need no approval. HPRS approval is free; a building consent involves Council fees.
How to apply to HPRS
Use the online application form. It asks what you are planning, tells you whether the work needs HPRS approval at all, and then asks only for the sketches and photographs that apply to it.
If your project does not fit any of the options there, get in touch and describe it.
Please note that HPRS approval does not constitute Auckland Council approval where that is also required.
Colour, fences and planting
Hobsonville Point has a colour palette of its own, and the design guide for your part of the Point has rules about front fences, low walls and what you plant in your front yard. None of that is obvious from the outside, and it is the detail an architect or a painter will ask you for.
Design guides and rules is where those documents are, with a note on how to find the ones that apply to your address.
Maintenance tips for stained cedar
Cedar exterior panels need specialised care to maintain their appearance and condition.
How often. Cedar needs recoating every two to three years, and annual washing using soft-wash methods to remove contaminants without damaging the coating.
Recoating. Check your property documentation for the original product, and reapply the same product in two coats.
Height. Multi-level homes require scaffolding for safe and proper application.
Painting over stain. Converting stained cedar to paint is a colour scheme change and may require HPRS approval, particularly for terraced or adjoining properties.