Resource consent for your Christchurch short stay: we prepare it and lodge it.

Not always. Christchurch sets its short-stay rules by zone, by location and by whether you live in the home while guests stay. As at 24 August 2026, most unhosted residential units outside the 50dB airport-noise contour are permitted for up to 8 guests and 60 nights in any 12 months, with notification and operating conditions. Consent comes into it when the stay goes beyond what your zone permits or an overlay or commercial-zone rule applies; those are common triggers, not a complete list. If the home is inside the 50dB contour, confirm with Council in writing before letting the whole home: unhosted short stays there usually need consent. Our free written assessment gives a first read for your address.

Not everywhere. As at 24 August 2026, 60 nights in 12 months (and up to 8 guests) is the permitted limit for most unhosted homes in residential zones outside the 50dB airport-noise contour. Specified Banks Peninsula and small-settlement residential zones and Residential Large Lot allow 180 nights, rural unhosted accommodation is generally 180, and a home inside the contour usually needs consent. Where your address needs consent, the conditions Council grants are what apply. Whether Council would grant more than 60 nights for your address is its decision, and we make no promise about it.

Our fee starts at NZ$880 + GST per property, and we confirm it in writing for your property before we start. It covers preparing the application, the visitor accommodation management plan and the assessment of environmental effects (AEE), lodging it, answering Council's requests for further information, and organising neighbours' written approvals where Council asks for them. Council's own fees are separate and you pay them to Council: a deposit when the application is lodged, adjusted to Council's actual processing time. In Council's 2026–27 fee schedule, effective 1 July 2026 and read by us on 9 October 2026, the deposit for a non-notified short-stay application in a residential unit is $2,500 including GST. If an application is publicly notified or goes to a hearing, which is rare, we quote that work separately before going ahead.

You can apply yourself, or have someone do it for you. Airhomes prepares and lodges the application for Christchurch owners, whether or not Airhomes manages the home, from NZ$880 + GST per property. If you would rather lodge it yourself, you pay us no consent fee.

Council decides, and nobody can guarantee approval, including us. Our fee covers the work whatever the decision. Council's own fees are payable whether or not the consent is approved. Until there is a decision, the nights the rules already permit for your address are the limit.

Often, within limits. For a residential unit you do not live in, outside the 50dB airport-noise contour, up to 8 guests and 60 nights in any 12 months is generally permitted as at 24 August 2026, once Council has been notified in writing and the operating conditions are followed. So you can usually start earning inside that limit while the consent is processed. Inside the contour, confirm with Council in writing before letting the whole home. Do not take bookings beyond the permitted nights on the expectation that consent will come through. How long Council takes depends on the application, so we do not give a timeframe.

Council decides who, if anyone, is affected and how an application is processed, so it depends on your address. Where Council asks for neighbours' written approval, we organise it, and it is included in our fee. Before lodging, we talk to Council's planner so we know what it is likely to want.

Yes. If you apply yourself you pay us no consent fee, and you can name Airhomes as the manager, the contact person and the emergency contact on your application. If we manage the home, our management fee is separate and is set out on our owners page.

Possibly. Council's page on visitor accommodation in a residential unit says that using a residential unit mainly for unhosted visitor accommodation, or holding a resource consent for it, increases rates, and that this type of visitor accommodation is currently rated using the business differential on the general rate. A change takes effect from the next rating year, which starts on 1 July. Ask Council's rates team or your accountant what applies to your property.

No. We handle consent applications in Christchurch only. Auckland's rules work differently (as at 7 October 2026 the Auckland Unitary Plan sets no annual night cap), and our Auckland rules guide explains them.