Building permits already issued are not affected by the 12-month suspension of all District PUZs. In addition, suspension does not apply to urban planning certificates for authorization purposes, nor to construction / demolition permits in the process of being issued. Therefore, the owners / developers which have obtained urban planning certificates for authorization purposes or have filed documentation for obtaining authorization (construction or demolition) will continue to benefit from the provisions of suspended District PUZs.
During the meeting of Bucharest Municipality General Council on Friday, February 26 th, 2021, which was available online on social networks, it was positively voted suspension for a period of 12 months of all 5 Zonal Urban Plans for 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , 5 th and 6 th Districts(“District PUZs”). For 1 st District there was no PUZ adopted, and therefore the matter of
suspension was not applicable.
District PUZs were approved during 2018-2020 (respectively 2013 for 6th District), as follows: 2nd District – August 2020, 3 rd District – January and December 2019, 4th District -South Zone – July 2018, 5th District – June 2020 and 6th District – February and August 2020 for amending 6th District PUZ from 2013.
What are the main effects of suspending District PUZs for 12 months?
First of all, for 6th District PUZ only the General Council Decisions for modifying, updating and, respectively, rectifying the 6 th District PUZ approved in 2013, modified and completed
in 2013, 2016 and 2017, were suspended. Through a non-definitive Bucharest Tribunal’s Decision from November 2020 the 6 th District PUZ from 2020 was cancelled and suspended until the final settlement of the case that is currently before Bucharest Court of Appeal.
Therefore, 6 th District PUZ approved in 2013, with subsequent amendments, is not subject to suspension and continues to apply.
Secondly, 3 rd District PUZ has been partially suspended since November 2019 (non-definitive) and definitively since June 2020, and subsequently cancelled by Bucharest Tribunal at the beginning of February 2021 by a decision that is not final and may be appealed.
Thirdly, for all 5 District PUZs several draft Suspension Decisions have been recently circulated (e.g., suspension for 2 years, suspension for 3 months), but following the amendment submitted by the initiator, namely General Mayor of Bucharest, on Friday, February 26 th , 2021, there were voted and approved a number of 5 Suspension Decisions of all District PUZs for a period of 12 months which have the following main consequences:
(i) the date of March 5 th , 2021 from which suspension should have been applied has been
removed, so that suspension operates from the approval date of all 5 Suspension Decisions;
(ii) within 90 days the General Mayor will publicly communicate the legal
inconsistencies identified in District PUZs, following which public debates will be organized;
(iii) in order to clarify certain aspects that have been circulated in the public arena, the issued construction / demolition permits are not affected by the 12-month suspension of District PUZs, since suspension applies only for the future, and not retroactively;
(iv) in addition, suspension does not apply to urban planning certificates for
authorization purposes, nor to construction / demolition permits in the process of being issued which will continue to be governed by suspended District PUZs. Therefore, owners / developers which have obtained urban planning certificates for authorization purposes or have filled documentation for obtaining authorization (construction or
demolition) will continue to benefit from the provisions of suspended District PUZs.
To what extent urban planning documentations previously approved can still be applied, which are urban planning documentations that will be applied during suspension, or what is the situation for urban planning certificates for authorization purposes already filed, but
unresolved represent matters that may be reviewed on a case by case basis.
