Portable signs in residential areas

Where you can display portable signs in residential areas

You can display portable signs in a residential area if:

• your premises is a historic heritage premises
• your premises is a retail premises lawfully established before 01 October 2015.

Restrictions for displaying portable signs in residential areas

You must also comply with the following restrictions in residential areas:

• only display one portable sign per premises
• if your premises has direct ground floor frontage and ground floor access, you can display either a portable board sign or a flag sign, but not both
• all premises in the same building that do not have direct ground floor frontage and ground floor access can share one portable ladder board (a sign listing multiple businesses) for the building.

Portable signs in residential areas can only advertise the premises (for example, the business name) and things that you can buy or do on the premises, such as:

• services
• goods
• products
• activities
• events.

Rules for different types of portable signs in residential areas

Portable board

You can display your portable board sign outside your premises in residential areas if:

• your premises has both direct ground floor frontage and direct ground level access
• you display either one board or one flag sign (not both) per historic heritage premises, or retail premises lawfully established before 01 October 2015
• your sign is maximum 1.2m high by 0.6m (600mm) wide by 0.46m (460mm) deep.

Portable flag signs

You can display your portable flag sign outside your premises in these areas if:

• your premises has both direct ground floor frontage and direct ground level access
• you display either one board or flag sign (not both) per historic heritage premises or retail premises lawfully established before 01 October 2015
• your sign is maximum 0.5m (500mm) width, 1.85m display area height, and total height of 2.2m.

Portable ladder board

You can share a portable ladder board sign in these areas if:

• your premises does not have direct ground floor frontage and does not have direct ground level access
• you share the portable ladder board sign with other premises in the same building that also do not have ground floor frontage and do not have direct ground level access
• the portable ladder board sign is the only portable ladder board sign for the building
• the portable ladder board sign is at least 5m away from other portable ladder board signs
• the portable ladder sign is maximum 1.5m high by 0.8m (800mm) wide by 0.46m (460mm).

Rules for placing portable signs on council-controlled public places

You can place your portable sign on a council-controlled public place (for example a public footpath) in certain circumstances.

When you place your portable sign, think about pedestrian access and in particular visually impaired people. You need to make sure:

• at least 1.8m of footpath width is unobstructed for pedestrians.
• your sign is at least 0.6m from the kerb, or at least 0.8m if on an Auckland Transport bus route
• your sign is at least 5m from the intersection of any roads and 2m from any access way, service lane or vehicle crossing
• if your sign is on a footpath beside a road, that it is towards the roadway kerb nearest the main ground floor entrance on the front boundary of the premises, and as much as possible on a grass verge where one exists
• if your sign is in a place other than a roadside footpath (for example a civic square), it is as close as is practicable to the main ground level entrance of the premises
• you remove your portable signs from a public place at the end of each day, and when they are at risk of being blown over due to high winds.

Example of how to correctly display portable signs on council-controlled public places.

Where portable signs are not allowed

You cannot use portable signs:

• on the roadway
• on a shared path
• on a cycle path
• in a shared zone
• on a road in a pedestrian mall
• if the sign relates to a home occupation.

Find the zone for your premises

You can find out if you are in a residential area by searching for your address on Geomaps. Under the results tab on the left-hand side of your screen, you will find your property summary including your zone.

You can find a full description of the rules in clause 11 of the Signs Bylaw 2022.