Cancellation of the building permit

Town planning rules / Building permit / Nullity of the building permit / How we can help you

Town planning rules

The right of ownership allows the holder to build/alter or demolish a specific construction on his land.

For more details on ownership and the powers conferred on the holder, please see the Ownership section.

All constructions in Romania are regulated by town planning rules, which are a set of legal rules on the conditions that must be met in order to carry out construction works in any form (e.g. modification of an existing construction, construction of a new construction, demolition of a construction, etc.).

Building permit

As a general rule, any building work, regardless of its type and/or nature (e.g. demolition of a building, in whole or in part, modification of the structure and partitioning of a dwelling, construction of a garage, etc.) can only be carried out on the basis of a document issued by the competent authorities, i.e. on the basis of a building/demolition permit.

Building or, where applicable, demolishing a building, without a building permit / demolition permit is a violation of the law, which may lead to a series of civil and/or administrative and/or criminal sanctions.

In general, the procedure for obtaining planning permission goes through several stages:

• obtaining the town planning certificate, which mentions all the procedures and documents required to be completed / obtained in order to obtain the right to build;
• obtaining all the required approvals under the town planning certificate;
• drawing up the DTAC (technical documentation for the issuance of the building permit), which contains both written and drawn parts on a number of aspects of the future construction (e.g. the location, structure, partitioning, utility networks of the building, building destination, etc.);
• payment of taxes;
• obtaining neighbours’ agreement, if necessary;
• issue of the building permit / demolition.

Nullity of the building permit

The building permit is an administrative act issued by the executive authorities of the Romanian state with competences in the field.

As an administrative act, it must be issued in accordance with a series of rules laid down in the relevant rules (e.g. the rules contained in primary planning legislation, the rules contained in local planning regulations, the rules contained in the planning certificate, etc.).

Whenever a building permit is issued in disregard/violation of the relevant legislation any interested person may request and obtain the cancellation of the permit through the issuing body and/or the courts.

In general, the reasons why unlawful permits are cancelled are as follows:

• non-compliance with the restrictive land regime;
• failure to comply with the legally permitted building functionalities (e.g. building an office building in an area where only residential buildings are permitted);
• failure to comply with the maximum percentage of land occupation (POT);
• failure to comply with the maximum land use coefficient (LULC);
• failure to comply with the maximum building height ( H – ul );
• failure to keep back from the centreline of the public road;
• failure to respect setbacks from adjoining property lines;
• failure to comply with the specific requirements of certain constructions.

The procedure for the cancellation of the building permit can be initiated and supported both by certain public authorities/institutions (e.g. the Prefect’s Office) and by any interested person (e.g. a neighbour, a non-governmental organisation).

The cancellation of a building permit paves the way for the demolition of the building.

For more information on demolishing a building, please visit the section Demolition of neighbouring buildings.

How we can help you

In collaboration with our specialists (e.g. geodetic engineers, architects, construction engineers, etc.) our lawyers can advise you on any kind of issue related to the legality/illegality of a certain building/dismantling permit.

The services offered generally consist of:

• verification of the legal status of the land for which the building permit was issued;
• verification of all relevant town planning rules and compliance with them;
• advice on remedying the infringements reported (entry into legality);
• representation before public authorities and institutions with powers in the field of town planning;
• legal assistance and representation before the courts.