News > Article

You will notice that there has been an expansion of commercial activities into some historically residential areas around the Whangarei City. This effect has occurred in a number of cities and towns around the country.

Such expansion often occurs along main transport routes, and in locations adjacent to existing commercially zoned land.

From a property investment point of view, it can provide a good option to establish a commercial use on a residentially zoned property in order to improve rental yields. One important difference between residential tenancies, and commercial leases, is that the tenant generally pays for most outgoings in a commercial lease. This has a positive effect on the profit generated by the property investment.

Such land use activities often require consents to be obtained from the District Council to be lawfully undertaken. If this is not done, the District Council can issue an abatement notice ordering a cessation of the activity. This could have a detrimental effect upon the business activity.

In our case, we occupy a building in an area which has a Living 1 zoning. This is essentially a medium density residential zone. We are undertaking a commercial activity on the property. However, in our case we have obtained a Certificate of Compliance from the District Council. This certificate acknowledges that the effects of our land use are the same or similar in character, intensity, and scale to those which existed before the rules set out in the District Plan became operative or the proposed plan was notified. This means that our activity can continue on the property without the fear of an abatement notice being issued. We undertook the required planning application to have the District Council formally recognise our land use with the Certificate of Compliance.

In other cases, the land use may not be long established, or the Land Use is about to change. In cases like these, an application for a Land Use activity is required from the District Council. These applications involve an analysis of the proposed activity with respect to the Rules which apply to the particular zone, and an assessment of environmental effects. For a light commercial activity such as ours being established in a residential zone, the items which require some attention are hours of operation, parking spaces provided, landscaping of the yards, the nature of the activity, numbers of vehicle movements being generated by the activity, whether a residential activity is associated or not, and signage. There may be other matters depending on the activity and the site concerned.

Birt & Currie Surveyors have obtained Land Use consents for such commercial activities in residential areas. If you have such a property, or are considering purchasing a property with this potential, we would be pleased to help you though the process of protecting the land use on the property.