Certificate of Acceptance vs Code Compliance Certificate
Two different pathways for two different situations — here's how to tell which one applies to your property.
Book a ConsultationCertificate of Acceptance (COA) and Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) are both council-issued documents confirming building work meets the Building Code, but they apply to very different situations.
Choosing the wrong pathway can waste time and money pursuing an application council will decline. CodeCompliance assesses your specific property and consent history first, so the correct pathway is identified before any application is made.
The key difference
A Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) confirms building work completed under an issued building consent has passed all required inspections and complies with that consent
A Certificate of Acceptance (COA) is generally used where building work was completed without the required consent, or where a CCC can no longer be issued
A CCC is the standard, planned final step of a consented building project
A COA is a retrospective, practical pathway for work that wasn't consented at the time
Both require council to be satisfied the work meets the Building Code to the extent it can be assessed
How we determine which applies to you
Whether a building consent was ever issued for the work in question
Whether that consent is still open, lapsed, or was never obtained
The age of the work — COAs generally cannot cover work from before 1 July 1992
Whether the work can still be adequately assessed given how it was built
Every property's consent history is different, and the right pathway isn't always obvious without checking the council file. We assess this for you before recommending an approach, and Auckland Council makes the final decision on either type of application.
A practical example: when each pathway applies
Many Auckland properties need both pathways addressed simultaneously. Here is a typical scenario:
A 1998 house has a 2007 extension with a building consent on the council file — but the CCC was never applied for. This extension needs a CCC, not a COA.
The same property has an unconsented bathroom added inside the extension after the consent was issued — no consent was ever obtained for it. This bathroom needs a COA.
CodeCompliance assesses the property, identifies both requirements, and manages the CCC completion and the COA application as a single coordinated process.
This avoids duplication and ensures both issues are resolved with a clear timeline and a single point of contact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Services
Certificate of Acceptance
A practical pathway for building work completed without the required consent — assessed, documented and taken through to council on your behalf.
Code Compliance Certificate
For existing building consents that were never formally signed off — we find out what's outstanding and manage the work required to close it out.
Missing CCC
Finding out a consented project was never signed off is more common than you'd think — here's how we resolve it.
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Need help with a COA, CCC, or property compliance issue? Tell us what's happening and we'll guide you through the next steps.
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