Another "Granny" flat question

[John the builder]

the rules are not silly it is the way they are inconsistently interpreted that is silly. Owners need to be informed so they can recognize the difference

[joesanga]

the rules are not silly it is the way they are inconsistently interpreted that is silly. Owners need to be informed so they can recognize the difference

Well the Council needs to recognise there are human needs when you have more than one family living in the same house! Having more than one generation living in the same house is normal and this is how most of the world lives and this is how most families in NZ lived for many years until recently. This also partially helps with creating less pressure on the housing market. If you have grandparents living with you, Council needs to make allowances for such living arrangements as they too need a bit of privacy as well. Having a kitchen or kitchennette goes along with this. Anybody who has ever closely worked with the Council would know how silly and ridiculous their rules are.

The OP simply wants to put a kitchen so he can look after the grandma and give her some privacy, whereas Council assumes he is putting a kitchen because he is going to rent it out and get an income and so soon would ask for a slice of the pie when in OP's case he is NOT going to make money out of this....as he is not renting it out!

You'd think that the latest Unitary Plan would have made allowances for such things but no, the Council is stuck in its old ways of thinking and always assumes that only one family should live under one roof, which I think is an extreme case of silliness! The Council needs to get their act together and recognise, some people like the OP, really genuinely want to use 'granny flats' literally as a 'granny flat' and not as 'home and income' and they should not be charged for this!!! A Council with brains will understand!

[John the builder]

'council with brains' is an oxymoron?

but the same commonsense that applies to a 'family' can also apply to a 'household' if they are sharing the same house.

[Angela1]

Can you see any evidence said very large laundry could have had a kitchen in it in the past? Maybe council have got someone to take out a kitchen in the past and could be on record. Buy a property bag from council and look for any clues.

It sounds like the Dwelling Living Accommodation was written to differentiate between a dwelling and a sleepout. Surely if they were trying to define a large home not being allowed two kitchens it would say "a single" food preparation for clarity.
A good argument is so what it if has a single door, you can seperate off a bedroom with a single door, doesn't make that a sleepout does it?
Council have been burned before by a genuine granny situation with a kitchen allowed, then granny dies and its rented out with no subsequent income to council. They are trying to stop this.

Also in the definitions J1 (4) Words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural include the singular.

Is the area behind the single door for granny smaller than 65sq m? Does this area provide at least one bedroom, bathroom and a living area? If it is council will allow you to put in a full blown kitchen with oven and call it a minor dwelling, BUT they will charge you a development contribution of probably something like $9,000 and put your rates up as a multi unit property to have that label.

Ask a planner if ti can be called a sleepout (word no longer in the definitions) with a kitchette - you used to be able to do that. The "sleepout" word hopefully won't trigger the development contributions.
You can get some really nice benchtop cookers with a hotplate on top. I can't imagine she would need any more than this.

You can have one free 15 minute booked meeting with a council planner at no charge hopefull you will get a different planner. Ask the question if I applied for a building consent to install a kitchenette - being a small kitchen bench with a sink with a benchtop oven will it be approved? If they say yes, ask them to email that to you. Take their names down and write your own minutes.

If they say no because its only a single door and therefore its a minor dwelling, is there someone else suitable where a second door could be installed to remove that argument? ie in a bedroom where you could just put the bed across it?

You are right in that if you put in a kitchen no one would know unless it gets reported. Get a PS3 statements from the electrian and builders. the fly in the ointment is if granny starts to get dementia and leaves the pot on said illegal oven and there is a fire = no insurance payout.

[Davo36]

Middle of a housing shortage and Auckland Council are doing their damnedest to stop anyone from creating extra housing units - unless they pay them lots and lots of money of course.

I reckon you should be able to have that second kitchen for a family member, no hassles whatsoever.

But Dean is right - there will be rules in the District Plan (DP) covering this. This is where the rules are eri. I'm not going to look up which section of the DP, it would take all day.

So the council writes the DP, puts in all the rules it wants, then tries to enforce them. Oh and says sh*t like "This is the plan Aucklanders said they wanted..."

[Wayne]

Call it a scullery - a remote scullery if you will.

[Angela1]

Maybe a bar? Bars are legitimately away from the kitchen, and allows for plumbing for a kitchen sink, install a fridge etc. You are stuck with a benchtop oven but a small price to pay.

[John the builder]

The planazis will still call it a kitchen and therefore a second dwelling

[Bobsyouruncle]

No oven no problem John.

[John the builder]

no oven = no self contained space = no flat for granny (and that is not a problem?)

all because someone wants to interpret the rules to their own ideology.

[Bobsyouruncle]

No. Kitchen with no oven is no problem.

[John the builder]

no oven = no cooking?

[Wayne]

Put in a stove.
Unplug and move away if there is an issue.

[John the builder]

but why should owners feel criminalized when the law is on their side

[Bobsyouruncle]

OVEN, not cooking. That's why all the kitchenette people build in microwaves and cooktops. It is the OVEN that triggers an issue.