Recent Changes to Construction Related Laws

Law no. 7/2020 for amending and supplementing Law no. 10/1995 regarding the quality of building constructions and for amending and supplementing Law no. 50/1991 regarding authorization of the execution of construction works (the “Law”) was published in the Romanian Official Gazette no. 8 dated 08.01.2020. 

A change introduced by the Law concerns the obligation incumbent on the investors to obtain, in addition to all the other permits as per the law, the permit/authorization of the administrator of the relevant roads in order to connect the buildings to the utility infrastructure networks. 

As per this Law, the reception of the construction works (in Romanian: “receptie la terminarea lucrarilor de construire”) carried out upon individual and collective housing buildings, or upon buildings that have public utility purposes, will not be conducted unless the authorized connections to the public utility networks are put into operation, whether for new buildings or for works performed upon existing buildings that were not in use during the execution of the construction works.

Moreover, a building will not be commissioned until the reception of the construction works takes place and the authorized and final connections to the public utility networks are put into operation. 

The main change under the Law is that buildings erected without a building permit can now be registered with the Land Book. Thus, the property right over the buildings erected without a building permit can now be registered with the Land Book based on a certificate attesting the edification of the construction, provided that the 3-year limitation period for any findings and subsequent grant of penalties pertaining to contraventions has passed.

Notwithstanding the above, the issuance of the certificate attesting the edification of the construction and, implicitly, the registration with the Land Book, as per the above, is subject to performing both a cadastral documentation and a technical survey on the fulfilment of the essential requirements regarding the construction quality and the approved urbanism regulations.

Furthermore, within the specialized departments of the public administration authorities at the level of the district and the district capital city, the “Commission for granting the unique permit” will be introduced in order to obtain, against a fee, as per the legal provisions and upon request of the applicant, the permits necessary for authorization of the construction works by issuing the unique permit, based on the documentation for authorizing the performance of the construction/dismantling works, supplemented with the specific technical approval documentation, submitted in digital format.