Tararua District Council's building and planning teams have been praised for going the extra mile to help applicants, but this could be a risky approach.
Council chief executive Blair King warned that staff processing information should not be providing additional advice.
"Our staff have been suggesting and helping people with advice. This isn't wrong, but it is a risk," he said.
In a report to councillors, Mr King said overall the building team deserved credit for how efficiently consent applications were handled from receipt through to final Code of Compliance issuing.
However, assessors from regulators IANZ had said a risk for the council was how it balanced the wish to be enabling (helping applicants navigate the complex documentation needed), while not taking on uninsured risk, which related to who provided advice and was liable for the application documentation.
"This is a challenge for the building and planning teams," Mr King said.
Councillor Shirley Hull said she was concerned the helpful service might suffer.
"We have a qualified building team and yet we're worried about assisting people to complete their resource consent applications," she said.
"We have a great reputation in this community and the reason is we enable people, but where do we draw the line?"