Section 92 request: what it is and how to respond

If you'd rather hand the whole thing over, our resource consent support team drafts s92 responses every week — send us the letter and we'll map exactly what's being asked and what a complete response needs.

What a Section 92 request actually is

Section 92 of the Resource Management Act 1991 lets a consent authority request further information about an application at any reasonable time before the hearing or decision. In plain English: the processing planner has read your application and can't yet make the calls they need to make — usually about effects — without more evidence.

Councils send s92 requests for a handful of recurring reasons:

• The AEE (assessment of environmental effects) is thin. The application describes what you're doing but not what it does to neighbours, traffic, character or the environment.
• Missing technical input. Traffic generation, parking, noise, stormwater, geotech — something the planner can't assess without a specialist's numbers.
• Unclear plans. Levels, boundaries, setbacks or site coverage that don't reconcile across the drawing set.
• Affected-party questions. The planner needs to understand effects on specific neighbours before deciding whether their approval is needed.
• District-plan interpretation. The planner wants justification for how a rule applies — or why an alternative reading is right.

Almost none of this is adversarial. The planner's job is to write a defensible report; your job is to give them the material to write it in your favour.

The clock stops — what that means for your timeline

The statutory 20-working-day processing clock pauses on the date the s92 is issued and doesn't restart until council receives your complete response. In real terms:

• A response that takes you three weeks to assemble = three-plus weeks added to your consent timeline, on top of the remaining processing time.
• A partial response that triggers a second s92 = the clock stops again. This "s92 ping-pong" is how a 20–35-working-day Christchurch consent quietly becomes a six-month saga.

This is why the economics of responding well are lopsided: one thorough, planner-quality response costs a fraction of what two extra months of holding costs, idle contractors or a delayed sale will.

Reading your letter: what an s92 actually looks like

Every council formats them slightly differently, but an s92 letter has the same anatomy. Here's an annotated walkthrough of a typical one:

• The header block — application number, site address, planner's name and contact. Keep the application number; every email and phone call references it.
• The legal basis — wording like "pursuant to Section 92(1) of the Resource Management Act 1991, further information is requested". This is what makes it formal and clock-stopping.
• The numbered requests — the meat of the letter. Each numbered item is a discrete question, and your response must answer every number, not just the easy ones. Items often bundle sub-questions ("…including the proposed method of disposal and calculations supporting the design") — split them out and answer each part.
• The options clause — usually wording noting you must respond within a reasonable period, and that if you don't, council may proceed to decide the application on the information it holds. Read that twice: ignoring an s92 doesn't pause things forever — it invites a decision based on an incomplete record, which is how applications get declined.
• The contact invitation — most letters invite you to discuss the request. Take it. A 15-minute call with the processing planner before you respond is the cheapest clarity you'll ever buy.

How to respond — the method that works

1. Don't respond the same day. Read it, then call the processing planner. Confirm what each item is really asking for and what form they want the answer in. Half of all second s92s exist because the first response answered the wrong question.
2. Tabulate the requests. Copy every numbered item into a response document, item for item, with council's numbering. Answer under each. This makes the planner's job easy — and planners approve what they can process.
3. Answer with evidence, not assertions. "Effects on the neighbour will be minor" is an assertion. A shadow diagram, a site section, a specialist memo or a photo record is evidence. Match the evidence to the effect.
4. Get specialist input where the letter asks for it. If they want traffic numbers, a traffic assessment answers it; your opinion doesn't. (This is the point where many homeowners should stop DIY-ing — a professional response to a technical s92 usually pays for itself in avoided delay.)
5. Update the AEE and plans if anything changed. If your response alters the proposal — a moved wall, a new mitigation measure — the application documents have to change with it, or you've created a new inconsistency.
6. Respond completely, once. The target state is a response the planner can lift straight into their report. Partial responses are what generate round two.
7. Confirm the clock has restarted. Ask for written confirmation that the response is accepted as complete and processing has resumed.

What happens after you respond

The planner finishes their assessment and writes the report recommending grant (usually with conditions) or decline. For a non-notified application, a decision typically follows within the remaining statutory days — see how long consents take, council by council. If granted, read every condition before celebrating: conditions are what you'll actually build to.

One thing people miss: a good s92 response often improves the consent you end up with. Conditions frequently grow out of concerns raised in the s92 — so a response that anticipates them ("here's the evidence, and we'd accept a condition requiring X") can shape workable conditions instead of being handed unworkable ones. Conditions you can't comply with are tomorrow's breach notice; this is the moment to negotiate them.

If you think the request is wrong

Sometimes an s92 asks for something disproportionate — a specialist report for a genuinely minor effect, or information already in the application. You can:

• Push back politely, with reasons. Call or write to the planner explaining why the information isn't needed to assess effects, pointing to what's already lodged. Planners do withdraw or narrow requests.
• Keep it constructive. The person you're persuading is the person writing the report.
• Know the alternative. If council isn't satisfied with your response, it can notify the application or decide it as-is — both worse than a negotiated response.

Outright refusal to provide requested information is technically an option (council must then decide on what it holds), but in practice it invites notification or decline. Treat it as a last resort, taken on professional advice.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• Resource consent costs and timelines in Christchurch — what the s92 does to your budget and programme
• Resource consent help for homeowners — if the letter just arrived and you want it off your plate
• Resource consent support — we draft s92 responses and manage the council relationship
• Browse all guides — the full library of straight-answer resources