Community views sought on Dangerous, Affected and Insanitary Buildings

Published on 02 September 2024

We’re updating our current policy on dangerous and insanitary buildings in and around the city and we want your help.

The policy makes sure that buildings in Palmerston North don’t endanger the health, safety and wellbeing of the people who either use them, or buildings that are nearby.

It doesn’t cover buildings which are simply unused or unkempt as we can only legally act to remedy issues with buildings which meet the definition for dangerous, affected, or insanitary under the Building Act.

The last time we reviewed this policy was in 2006, so while the intent of our updated policy remains the same, we’re proposing some improvements to better align with current legislative requirements, reflect our strategic direction and increase transparency and consistency on the processes we use.

We've also updated its name to the ‘Dangerous, Affected, and Insanitary Buildings Policy’ to match the new definition of affected buildings in the Building Act. This change allows us to now consider the impact on other buildings near to dangerous or insanitary buildings, and to work to reduce any associated risks.

Our updated policy would also allow us keep a register of the status of dangerous, affected, and/or insanitary buildings in the city, and to make this information publicly available on our Land Information Memorandum and Property Information Memorandum records.

To learn more or to have your say on our proposed changes to this policy, go to our consultation page. To let us know what you think, make sure you make a submission before they close at 4pm on Monday 07 October 2024.

Have your say today

Hardcopy versions of the Statement of Proposal and submission forms are also available at our Customer Service Centre or any of our community libraries.

We expect to hold hearings in November at Council’s Planning and Strategy Committee. Our Elected Members will meet to consider all submissions and whether to adopt the final Dangerous, Affected, and Insanitary Buildings Policy in February 2025.