You are required to obtain a building consent if the work involves adding an additional sanitary fixture to your house - for example, a new bath – where there was not one previously. A building consent is not required to repair or maintain an existing water heater, if it is carried out by an authorised person.
You are unlikely to require a building consent to:
re-position or replace sanitary fixtures (e.g. a bath, bidet, wash hand basin, shower or toilet pan) within an existing home bathroom
move a toilet pan from a toilet compartment into an adjacent existing bathroom
remodel an existing kitchen within the same space, leaving the kitchen sink in the same position
move an existing home laundry tub to a new location to an adjacent room
relocate or remove an existing hose tap
remove a bath with a shower over it, and replace it with a new proprietary shower enclosure and a new bath within the existing bathroom space.
