Expiring or expired consents

Recent changes under the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Act (December 2025) have extended the expiry date of many resource consents to 31 December 2027. This extension is intended to allow activities to lawfully continue while the new planning system is enacted. The automatic extension does not apply to water-related consents that will exceed 35 years duration and municipal wastewater consents which were recently extended under a different amendment.

Your consent will automatically be extended to 31 December 2027 if:

• It has recently expired, and a replacement consent application has already been lodged but has not yet been determined and you have secured s124 rights; or
• It is due to expire before 31 December 2027.

Affected consent holders will be notified by the Regional Council.

If you have already lodged an application for a replacement consent, we will continue processing the application unless you advise you wish to withdraw your consent application.

You will be charged for time spent processing your application, whether you withdraw your application or let processing continue to completion.

Most water take consents are granted for 15 years duration.

You can apply for a resource consent at any time regardless of when your existing consent expires. We recommend if you need a replacement consent that you apply at least six months prior to expiry to secure automatic s124 existing use rights.

Section 124 rights allow consent holders to continue operating under their existing consent beyond the expiry date, while their replacement consent application is being processed.

Annual fees may apply to consents with the automatically extended duration.  If you no longer require your consent, you can complete a Surrender Form and return it via email to regulatory.admin@boprc.govt.nz or drop off at any Bay of Plenty Regional Council office.  

If you're unsure about whether to apply for a replacement consent, please contact our Duty Consents Officer on 0800 884 881 or consents.queries@boprc.govt.nz

If you would like to discuss options for a consent application that you have already lodged with us, please contact the Consents Planner who is processing your application.