Who's to blame?

The Auckland City Council says a change is needed to the national building code to specify minimum sizes for residences within apartment blocks.

City development committee chairwoman Juliet Yates says the code's failure to tackle the issue of size makes it tricky for officials to reject developments on the grounds that rooms aren't big enough.

The council is concerned that developers are building units as small as possible to take advantage of Auckland's inward migration and property boom.

Ms Yates says: "Under the current building code, we can't ensure the level of amenity that you or I would consider appropriate."

But New Zealand Institute of Architects urban issues group chairman Graeme Scott, says the council could reject stingy apartments by cracking down on requirements other than size.

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