Certificate of Acceptances with Auckland Council - any experience?

[Newbie22]

Hi there
We are about to sell a property and it dawned on us on Friday that we have not got the certificate of acceptance we have always meant to get before we went overseas.
I have read the form and the application process documents and now have a number of questions:
Basically I have the plans that were done at the time - 2 walls were removed and a new kitchen was put in. It is building code compliant, my builder issued me with a letter to that end.
What I don't know is how much a certificate of acceptance is going to cost or how long it will take. I am in a bit of a hurry to sell the place which is a sticky situation to be in when you are dealing with a council. I just wondered if you could share any hints and tips based on your experience with the application process and answer a few questions for me:
1. Will the Council accept the plans I had at the time of the renovation or will I need to get new plans drawn? They were done by a draughtsman.
2. What is the scope of the inspection - will they check out the work only or is it likely to open up a huge can of worms for me? ie: will they stick to checking out the walls that were removed and the beams that were put in (they will see the building work in the roof) or not?
3. Any idea what the cost would be. Total building work was $10k at the time (8 years ago).
4. What experience have you had with timeframes? I remember a while ago when I first downloaded the form I saw 20 working days with a good application but I can't see anything now. That was a long time ago.

I have spoken to a friend who sold her house in the position we are in. They ended up having to get a council consent and as such, the property settled but a sum was held in the lawyers trust account until the cert was issued. I guess what I'd be concerned about would be how that amount is quantified.

I'd rather sell with the consent obviously. Just really wishing I'd done this before I went overseas for 6 years!

Appreciate any experience or advice anyone can offer.

[superoman]

Hi.
I'm a designer and submit plans for consent regularly. I have only applied for code of compliances, not certificate of acceptances, but expect they will have a similar process

1. Submit the plans done 8 years ago. There have been slight changes to the building code and standards since then, but they hopefully should not affect what you have done. In saying that, the council may come back with queries
2. They should only be looking at the work done, but they may pick up on existing work as well. We just built an extension to a house, and now the councl wants us to upgrade the whole existing roof to comply with current standards (we did not touch this roof)
3. Theres a form on the Auckland council website that says $410 deposit. From experience I would say allow double that
4. 20 working days = 1 month which should be applicable. However if they come back to you with questions the clock stops. Allow 2 months worst case

Cheers

Peter

[motivated]

Hi
Superoman is on the right track.
I am a builder and know some councils do stick their nose in where not asked to or are exceeding their authority.
Where you are sure of your facts--get clarification from dept building and housing--then tell the council in a nice way to pull their head in.
Superoman--i doubt they have the right to insist on a roof upgrade in the extension you mention.
A local designer recommends getting a safe and sanitary cert from an engineer where seeking a certificate of acceptance--councils dont seem to question these.