Buying a Plot/Land? Must-Know Things Before You Buy Land in Romania

Architect Octavian Ungureanu / Architect’s Blog / Buying a Plot/Land? Must-Know Things Before You Buy Land in Romania
Buying Land in Romania

This topic is about the technical conditions required to Build in Romania.

What makes a plot of land suitable for construction in Romania

First of all, the plot of land should be constructible (buildable):

  1. “intravilan” – meaning the plot is inside the city perimeter. Nevertheless, if the land is outside the city limits (extravilan) it can be built if an Urban Zone Plan (PUZ – Plan Urbanistic General) is initiated by the owner of the land. The scope of this project is to set a zone regulation that will allow buildings to be erected. The City Hall or the County Hall should approve first this project.
  2. Listed as constructible by the Local Regulation (Local Town or Village Planning Regulation – “Regulamentul Local de Urbanism”)
  3. Acceptable by the Local Regulation for the specific function (eg Residential, High Rise Residential, Commercial, Industrial, etc).
  4. Allowed for specific heights of the buildings, land occupancy percentage, and land utilization coefficient.

Second, the land should be not in any of the situations when specific restrictions might apply:

  • If the land is affected by electrical, phone, gas, water, sewerage installations. The restrictions might vary from withdrawals to interdiction to build
  • The land is subject to expropriation by the City Hall or by the Government as a Zone Urban Plan is approved. In this case, the expropriation might occur in the very long term and the interdiction to build will be set on the plot of land.

Ways to verify if the land is suitable for construction

  • Urban Certificate from the City Hall. (The owner of the land should apply for it). The Urban Certificate should state clearly the conditions 1-4 and 6: If the land is inside the city limits, what Chapter of the Local Regulation refers to the plot of the land? Attention! The Local Regulations can be described just as maximal in the Urban Certificate. Eg: For some zones of Bucharest, The Local Regulation state that the allowed height for the building is 14 stories, but this is only an exception, more requirements are not mentioned in the Urban Certificate.
  • Preliminary approvals from the Gas, Electricity, and Phone Companies. Attention! It is not usual to get the preliminary approvals before the contract is signed. Besides, the buyer should apply himself for new preliminary approvals.

Recommendations when buying a plot of land for construction purposes in Romania:

  • Use the services of a well-established real estate agency and or a lawyer. Their services should guarantee that the seller is the owner of the land and that other legal easements might restrict the seller’s rights to the land.
  • Verify with a licensed architect if the conditions from the Local Regulations are suitable for what you intend to build. Both Real estate agents and lawyers can be misguided by the technical conditions set in the Local Regulation. Please be aware that getting a Building Permit (Authorization for Construction) can have a longer or shorter path, depending on the land, the Local Regulations, and the functions and the size of the building you intend to develop.

Please feel free to contact us for more details on buying land in Romania!