Who issues the building permit, and what the authority checks

The building permit is the act by which the competent public authority allows works to be carried out, under Law no. 50/1991 on the authorisation of construction works. Under art. 4 of that law, permits are issued by the presidents of county councils, by the General Mayor of Bucharest, or by mayors, as the case may be. There is therefore no single issuer valid everywhere: competence follows the type and location of the works, and the first practical question is which authority issues it in your situation.

The authority assesses a documentation, not an intention. A permit cannot be obtained without a complete technical documentation drawn up by designers holding signature rights — the signature is what carries professional liability for the solutions proposed. That is also why a project cannot be assembled from independent pieces produced without coordination between disciplines.

The starting point is not the permit application but the urbanism certificate. It states the legal, economic and technical status of the land and lists the permits and approvals required, and indicates whether a zonal urban plan or other preliminary studies are needed. Without it, there is no way to know what must be obtained before filing.

The file submitted comprises the application, the documents establishing the right over the land, a valid urbanism certificate, the permits and approvals obtained, and the verified technical documentation. The legal issuing term starts running from the submission of a complete file, which shifts the emphasis from filing quickly to filing completely: an incomplete documentation draws requests for further information, and those restart the wait.

For the client, the practical conclusion is that authorisation is not a final administrative step but a stage prepared well in advance, in step with what the approving bodies require. A properly coordinated project reaches this point with its approvals in hand and without discrepancies between architecture, structure and building services.