REALWorld Law

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

According to the Law 50/1991 regarding construction works, in order to obtain a building permit the following steps must be followed:

• Issue of the locality planning certificate
• Initial evaluation of the investment in order to establish if an environmental impact study is necessary
• Notification to the competent authority with issuing the building permit in the case that the environmental study is necessary, regarding the maintenance of the request for obtaining the building permit
• Issue of the permits and approvals required in the locality planning certificate
• Issue of the environmental approval
• Drafting of the technical documentation
• Filing the documentation with the relevant authority
• Issue of the building permit

In addition, when necessary due to the importance and/or complexity or specifics of the construction works or when derogation from the provisions of the existing urban planning documents is requested by the investor, the investor may be required by the authorities to prepare a zoning urban plan or a detailed urban plan.

Furthermore, the authenticated (by the notary public) approval of the neighbours necessary for the purpose of changing the use of existing buildings, or for the development of buildings with a different use from that of the neighbouring buildings, must be contained in the technical documentation filed for the issue of the building permit.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

According to the applicable legislation, the public should be involved in all steps of the decisional process regarding the urban planning and designed use of the territory. The public's participation in the decisional process involves its right to have access to information, its right to be consulted and its right of free access to justice on urban planning and designed use of territory issues during the setting-up and approval of the public strategies and the corresponding documentation.

Any interested third party may file with the relevant authority opinions and objections to a proposed urban planning and/or designated use for a specific area. Should the authorities not consider the objections raised during the decisional process, the interested third parties may file a court action to challenge the administrative act issued by the authorities.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

The authority which is competent to issue a building permit depends on the location and the nature of the plot of land on which the building will be developed.

Furthermore, if an interested person files a claim with the administrative courts of law in order to challenge a building permit or the administrative decision to reject the application for a building permit, the application for the issue of the building permit will be reviewed by such courts of law.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

According to the law 50/1991 regarding construction works, the building permit is issued within 30 days following the filing of the application, together with the complete underlying documentation. However, please note that, in practice, the issue of a building permit may take more than 30 days.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

According to the Law 50/1991 regarding construction works, any interested person may file with the administrative courts of law a claim in order to challenge a building permit or the administrative decision of rejecting the application for a building permit.

Nonetheless, before going to court, a preliminary administrative procedure needs to be followed. Hence, within 30 days from the building permit or, as the case may be, the administrative decision being made available to the public, the interested persons apply to the competent authority to revoke the said administrative acts. Only if the competent authority does not issue a favourable resolution, may the interested persons file a claim with the administrative courts of law.

An interested person may be a person whose application for a building permit was rejected, as well as any other person who may claim an interest (including the prefect of the relevant county).

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

Development agreements with the Romanian public authorities may be concluded according to the applicable legislation regulating public procurement, provision of services and concessions (ie Law no. 98/2016 regarding public procurement, Law no. 99/2016 regarding the sectorial procurement, Law no. 100/2016 regarding the award of public works and services concession agreements, Law no. 101/2016 on remedies and appeals, Emergency Government Ordinance no. 57/2018 regarding the Administrative Code).

Furthermore, please note that agreements with the utilities suppliers must be concluded during the construction works as well as after the construction works are finished.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

Once the building permit is received, the construction works must start within the validity period indicated in the building permit, which can be of maximum 24 months from the date of issue and which can be extended for only one time for another 24 months. If the construction works start within the respective period of time, the building permit is valid for the entire duration of the construction works. However, the construction works must be completed within the period provided for in the building permit.

The investor has the obligation to notify the authority who has issued the building permit, as well as the territorial inspectorate in constructions on the date of starting the authorized works. Otherwise, if the finding of the fact of starting the works without notification was made within the validity term of the building permit, the date of starting the works shall be considered as the day following the date of issuance of the authorization.

The validity of the building permit extends over the entire duration of the works provided by the authorization, starting with the date of starting the works notified as per the above paragraph. In case of non-compliance with the notification obligation, the execution duration established in the building permit is calculated from the date of issuance of the building permit.

Also, the validity of the building permit is maintained in case of change of the investor, before the completion of the works, provided that the provisions of the related building permit are observed and the changes in the real estate rights are registered with the land book.

If the construction works are not started within the validity period of the building permit or in case of a change of theme and if no urban regulations were approved, different to the ones based on which the initial building permit was issued, a new building permit must be obtained. The new building permit can be issued based on the same documentation and without the need of obtaining a new urban planning certificate or new permits/approvals.

The new building permit should be requested within a time period equal to the validity period of the initial building permit. In case the protection regime of the property or of the area where the property is located changes between the date when the initial building permit was issued and the date when a new building permit is requested, the reconfirmation of the approval issued by the authority responsible for the protected matter is necessary.

If the construction works are not finalized within the validity period of the building permit, a new building permit for the continuation of works may be issued, corresponding to the physical stage of the authorized works and based on the same documentation for the authorization for those construction works, without new urbanism certificate and approvals being necessary.

However, on appropriate grounds, the relevant authority may extend the validity of a building permit, or of the period of time within which the construction works must start, once only and for a period no longer than 24 months.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

Which authorities are responsible for regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate in this country and which legislation applies?

The public control of construction works is performed by the State Inspectorate of Construction and by other competent authorities through inspections carried out at the construction sites during the entire development.

The State Inspectorate of Construction and the authority that issued the building permit must be notified when the construction works start. Moreover, the reception handover protocol on the completion of the construction works is signed only if the requirements set out by the building permit have been fulfilled. The handover protocol is signed by a commission which must comprise the following members: a representative of the investor, a representative of the local authority and 1-3 specialists in the construction field. In certain situations the structure of the reception commission must be extended, by including the following additional members, as follows: (i) a representative of the State Inspectorate in Constructions, in case of the reception of buildings of high importance or in case of the reception of low importance buildings of public or social interest financed in whole or in part from public funds or in case of intervention to such buildings; (ii) a representative appointed by the inspectorates for emergency situations, for the constructions falling under the Law no. 307/2006 on fire prevention; (iii) a representative appointed by the county/Bucharest culture departments, for constructions included in the list of historical monuments (iv) a designated representative by the main credit release authority in case of the reception of buildings of high importance or in case of intervention to such buildings financed in whole or in part from public funds and for which the approval of the technical documentation is in the competence of the government.

Furthermore, any interested person may file with the administrative courts of law a claim in order to challenge any acts of the relevant authority.

Non-compliance by a developer with the relevant permits and authorizations is punished by an administrative fine (and also by the refusal of the authorities to acknowledge the completion of the building. Such refusal of the authorities would impede on the Land Book registration of the building and also preclude the owner from using the building in accordance with its designated use.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025