Building permits

Verified 26 March 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Do you want to build a building or do work on an existing one? Before starting your work, you must obtain a building permit (PC). It's issued by the city hall. We guide you through the steps of applying for a permit.

You must first inquire with your city hall to find out if your project is in a protected area. The protected sites are the remarkable heritage sites, the historic landmarks, the classified or pending sites, nature reserves, the heart of national parks or a future national park.

Who shall I contact

General case

Step-by-step approach

Work that leads to the creation of floor area orground right-of-way or an interior or exterior development of your property may be covered by a building permit.

Creating a Floor Surface or Ground Right of Way

Interior fittings

Outdoor fit-up work

Applications for authorization may be made by the following persons:

  • Owner(s) of the land or its representative
  • Purchaser of the property
  • Company authorized by the owner(s) to carry out the work
  • No one in division or his representative
  • Trustee and co-owner
  • Beneficiary of expropriation (public service, public establishment, chamber of commerce...)

The way to build your PC file differs depending on whether you are in Paris or in another municipality.

General case

You must complete your PC file by paperless means according to the arrangements made by your municipality or on a paper form. Inquire on the website of the city hall or on site.

Who shall I contact

On the Internet

You can complete your PC application file on the internet:

Support for your city planning authorization request

Form

The PC form varies if you are doing your work on a detached house or on another type of construction.

Detached house

Application for a building permit for a detached house and/or its annexes (CMIP)

When several people file a building permit together, they attach a supplementary card in which they give the identity and contact details of each owner.

Supplementary file/other applicants for the same project

Please note

By completing the permit application form, you can choose to receive e-mail from the READ: titleContent or by another equivalent electronic method.

The application for a building permit includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the form, a " attachment deposit slip ” gives the full list of all documents that the city planning department may request from you.

For all projects, you must provide the following:

  • Situation plan of the land you can get on the Geoportal website
  • Ground plane
  • Cross-sectional plane
  • Notice setting out the land, its surroundings and the project (layout, access, parking, planned facilities, materials and colors of buildings, plantations)
  • Plan of facades and roofs
  • Graphic document (photomontage for example) to appreciate the project in relation to other nearby constructions and landscapes
  • Original photograph to situate the terrain in its close environment
  • Original photography to locate the terrain in its distant environment

Other documents are requested depending on the nature of your project.

If the floor area of your construction is greater than 150 m², you must have the plans prepared by an architect.

The recourse to the architect may also be required for an enlargement.

The application for a building permit includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the form, a " attachment deposit slip ” gives the full list of all documents that the city planning department may request from you.

For all projects, you must provide the following:

  • Situation plan of the land you can get on the Geoportal website
  • Ground plane
  • Cross-sectional plane
  • Notice setting out the land, its surroundings and the project (layout, access, parking, planned facilities, materials and colors of buildings, plantations)
  • Plan of facades and roofs
  • Graphic document (photomontage for example) to appreciate the project in relation to other nearby constructions and landscapes
  • Original photograph to situate the terrain in its close environment
  • Original photography to locate the terrain in its distant environment

Other documents are requested depending on the nature of your project.

If the floor area of your construction is greater than 150 m², you must have the plans prepared by an architect.

The recourse to the architect may also be required for an enlargement.

Warning  

If you are a legal person, other than a farm or farm equipment co-operative, you must always use an architect.

Construction or extension of buildings and energy renovation work must comply with the environmental regulation 2020.

You must provide a certificate of compliance with this regulation that you can obtain on the Internet.

Certificates of acceptance of environmental regulations RE 2020 and thermal RT 2012

Other construction

Application for a building permit (other than for a detached house or its annexes)

When several people file a building permit together, they attach a supplementary card in which they give the identity and contact details of each owner.

Supplementary file/other applicants for the same project

Please note

By completing the permit application form, you can choose to receive e-mail from the READ: titleContent or by another equivalent electronic method.

The application for a building permit includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the form, a " attachment deposit slip ” gives the full list of all documents that the city planning department may request from you.

For all projects, you must provide the following:

  • Situation plan of the land you can get on the Geoportal website
  • Ground plane
  • Cross-sectional plane
  • Notice setting out the land, its surroundings and the project (layout, access, parking, planned facilities, materials and colors of buildings, plantations)
  • Plan of facades and roofs
  • Graphic document (photomontage for example) to appreciate the project in relation to other nearby constructions and landscapes
  • Original photograph to situate the terrain in its close environment
  • Original photography to locate the terrain in its distant environment

Other documents are requested depending on the nature of your project.

If the floor area of your construction is greater than 150 m², you must have the plans prepared by an architect.

The recourse to the architect may also be required for an enlargement.

Warning  

If you are a legal person, other than a farm or farm equipment co-operative, you must always use an architect.

Construction or extension of buildings and energy renovation work must comply with the environmental regulation 2020.

You must provide a certificate of compliance with this regulation that you can obtain on the Internet.

Certificates of acceptance of environmental regulations RE 2020 and thermal RT 2012

In Paris

You must submit your file to the BASU: titleContent by dematerialized means only:

Office Accueil et Service à l'Usager (BASU) de Paris: one-stop-shop

Depending on whether you are in Paris or another municipality, you must file your application:

  • By dematerialized according to the arrangements made by your municipality (inquire on the site of the town hall or on the spot)
  • By letter RAR: titleContent
  • In your own hand
Who shall I contact
General case

Via the Internet

You should ask your city council or its website for information on how to send your file to it via the internet.

Who shall I contact

Support for your city planning authorization request

When you send your request by hand or by post, the City Hall will issue you a receipt.

When you submit your application electronically, the receipt shall consist of the electronic acknowledgement of receipt.

The receipt contains the registration number of your file and the information allowing you to know the date from which the work can start.

He states that, within 1 month of the filing of the file, the City Hall can notify a different time frame to start your work. She also has 1 month to notify you if your file is incomplete.

Filing in town hall or by mail

Your permit application can be submitted or mailed RAR: titleContent to the town hall.

Who shall I contact

You must deposit  :

  • 4 complete building permit application files
  • 5 copies of the situation plans additional
  • 5 copies of the ground plane additional
  • 5 copies of the cross-sectional planes additional

The city hall delivers you a receipt. It contains the registration number of your file and information allowing you to know the date from which the work can start.

This receipt states that, within 1 month from the filing of the file, the City Hall can notify a different time frame to start your work. She also has 1 month to inform you that your file is incomplete.

In Paris

You must submit your file to the BASU: titleContent by dematerialized means only:

Office Accueil et Service à l'Usager (BASU) de Paris: one-stop-shop

The starting point of the investigation period differs if your file is complete or not.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Your file is complete

For a detached house, the time-limit for the investigation is 2 months from the date of submission of the complete file to the City Hall.

For other projects, the time limit is 3 months.

Your file is incomplete

Within 1 month of receipt or submission of your permit application to the City Hall, she will send you a letter RAR: titleContent or by electronic means a request for missing documents.

You have 3 months to send the requested parts. If you do not provide them, your license application will be considered rejected.

The instruction timeout starts when your folder is full.

For a detached house, it is 2 months.

For other projects, the time limit is 3 months.

The decision is addressed to you by letter RAR: titleContent or by READ: titleContent or an equivalent electronic process.

You may receive a decision authorizing, refusing, staying a decision or not receive a reply.

Authorization

The decision to grant you a building permit takes the form ofan order signed by the mayor.

Warning  

Within 3 months of the date of the decision, the mayor may withdraw a permit if he considers that it has been issued illegally.

Lack of response

If you do not receive a reply from the City Hall at the end of the appraisal period, your project is accepted. This is a tacit building permit.

Warning  

Within 3 months of the date of the decision, the mayor may withdraw a permit if he considers that it has been issued illegally.

Refusal

Refusal of building permits takes the form ofone by-law specifying the reasons for the refusal. It must indicate the means and time limits for appealing against this decision.

Stay of proceedings

In certain circumstances, the mayor can defer his decision on your license for up to 2 years. This is the case, for example, when your work request may compromise or make it more expensive to execute a future project MORE: titleContent or a development operation.

The mayor takes a stay of proceedings.

Your permit is neither accepted nor refused. It will be reviewed later.

The reasons for the decision and the remedies and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Within 2 months of the expiry of the stay of proceedings, you must confirm your permit application. Within 2 months of your request, you will receive the mayor's decision.

FYI  

A landowner who has been granted a stay of proceedings may apply to the community (or the public service that initiated the stay) to purchase the land.

Once your building permit has been accepted, its display on the ground is mandatory.

The view must remain in place for the duration of the work and be visible from the outside. The information on your billboard must be legible on the public highway or in spaces open to the public.

For 2 months from 1er day of display in the field, your neighbors or any other person with an interest in acting (future buyer or tenant for example) can to challenge the authorization which has been granted to you. They then make a free appeal to the mayor who issued the authorization.

When the mayor refuses your application for a building permit or issues a stay order, you can challenge it.

In the 2 months that follow the date of notification of the decision, you can make a ex gratia appeal by letter RAR: titleContent by the town hall.

Who shall I contact

If your grace attempt fails, you have a new grace period of 2 months to make a appeal to the administrative court, by letter RAR: titleContent. You must clearly state the reasons for your right to a building permit.

You must apply to the administrative court within whose jurisdiction your municipality is located.

Who shall I contact

Period of validity of the building permit

The building permit has a period of validity three years old.

It expires if you have not started the work within 3 years or if, after this period, you interrupt it for more than 1 year.

Request for extension

The period of validity may be extended 2 times for 1 year if the city planning rules and administrative easements have not changed.

You have to ask for it At least 2 months before the end of the initial period of validity of your building permit (or before the expiration of your 1re request for extension).

This request must be made in 2 copies by letter RAR: titleContent or dropped off in town hall.

Upon receipt of your request, the City Hall has 2 months to answer you.

The extension is granted if you do not receive a reply within this time limit.

The site opening declaration is mandatory.

Before your work begins, you must declare the opening of the site on a form to be deposited or sent to the town hall, preferably by letter RAR: titleContent .

Declaration of the opening of the construction site

Who shall I contact

When you have finished your work, you must declare their completion and compliance, to the City Hall, with the following form:

Declaration of completion and conformity of works

The construction, reconstruction and expansion of the buildings shall give rise to the payment of development tax and possibly the Preventive Archeology Charge.

The elements for the calculation of the fees shall be declared within 90 days the completion of your work in the fiscal sense.

You make this declaration from your secure space on the tax website.

You are sent collection documents following your declaration.

If it does not exceed €1,500 , the development tax is payable in one installment, 90 days after the completion of the works.

When its amount exceeds €1,500, the tax is payable in 2 times, 90 days and 9 months after completion of the work.

Sectors protected

The content of the PC file, the number of copies to be provided and the time required to complete the appraisal are different when your project is located in a protected area.

Step-by-step approach

Work that leads to the creation of floor area orground right-of-way or an interior or exterior development of your property may be covered by a building permit.

Creating a Floor Surface or Ground Right of Way

Interior fittings

Outdoor fit-up work

Applications for authorization may be made by the following persons:

  • Owner(s) of the land or its representative
  • Purchaser of the property
  • Company authorized by the owner(s) to carry out the work
  • No one in division or his representative
  • Trustee and co-owner
  • Beneficiary of expropriation (public service, public establishment, chamber of commerce...)

The way to build your PC file differs depending on whether you are in Paris or in another municipality.

General case

You must complete your PC file by paperless means according to the arrangements made by your municipality or on a paper form. Inquire on the website of the city hall or on site.

Who shall I contact

On the Internet

You can complete your PC application file on the internet:

Support for your city planning authorization request

Form

The PC form varies if you are doing your work on a detached house or on another type of construction.

Detached house

The application for a building permit includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the form, a " attachment deposit slip ” gives the full list of all documents that the city planning department may request from you.

For all projects, you must provide the following:

  • Situation plan of the land you can get on the Geoportal website
  • Ground plane
  • Cross-sectional plane
  • Notice setting out the land, its surroundings and the project (layout, access, parking, planned facilities, materials and colors of buildings, plantations)
  • Plan of facades and roofs
  • Graphic document (photomontage for example) to appreciate the project in relation to other nearby constructions and landscapes
  • Original photograph to situate the terrain in its close environment
  • Original photography to locate the terrain in its distant environment

Other documents are requested depending on the nature of your project.

If the floor area of your construction is greater than 150 m², you must have the plans prepared by an architect.

The recourse to the architect may also be required for an enlargement.

Please note

By completing the permit application form, you can choose to receive e-mail from the READ: titleContent or by another equivalent electronic method.

Warning  

If you are a legal person other than a farm or farm equipment co-operative, you must always use an architect.

Application for a building permit for a detached house and/or its annexes (CMIP)

When several people file a building permit together, they attach a supplementary card in which they give the identity and contact details of each owner.

Supplementary file/other applicants for the same project

Construction or extension of buildings and energy renovation work must comply with the environmental regulation 2020.

You must provide a certificate of compliance with this regulation that you can obtain on the Internet.

Certificates of acceptance of environmental regulations RE 2020 and thermal RT 2012

Other construction

Application for a building permit (other than for a detached house or its annexes)

When several people file a building permit together, they attach a supplementary card in which they give the identity and contact details of each owner.

Supplementary file/other applicants for the same project

Please note

By completing the permit application form, you can choose to receive e-mail from the READ: titleContent or by another equivalent electronic method.

The application for a building permit includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the form, a " attachment deposit slip ” gives the full list of all documents that the city planning department may request from you.

For all projects, you must provide the following:

  • Situation plan of the land you can get on the Geoportal website
  • Ground plane
  • Cross-sectional plane
  • Notice setting out the land, its surroundings and the project (layout, access, parking, planned facilities, materials and colors of buildings, plantations)
  • Plan of facades and roofs
  • Graphic document (photomontage for example) to appreciate the project in relation to other nearby constructions and landscapes
  • Original photograph to situate the terrain in its close environment
  • Original photography to locate the terrain in its distant environment

Other documents are requested depending on the nature of your project.

If the floor area of your construction is greater than 150 m², you must have the plans prepared by an architect.

The recourse to the architect may also be required for an enlargement.

Warning  

If you are a legal person, other than a farm or farm equipment co-operative, you must always use an architect.

Construction or extension of buildings and energy renovation work must comply with the environmental regulation 2020.

You must provide a certificate of compliance with this regulation that you can obtain on the Internet.

Certificates of acceptance of environmental regulations RE 2020 and thermal RT 2012

In Paris

You must submit your file to the BASU: titleContent by dematerialized means only:

Office Accueil et Service à l'Usager (BASU) de Paris: one-stop-shop

Depending on whether you are in Paris or another municipality, you must file your application:

  • By dematerialized according to the arrangements made by your municipality (inquire on the site of the town hall or on the spot)
  • By letter RAR: titleContent
  • In your own hand
Who shall I contact
General case

Via the Internet

You should ask your city council or its website for information on how to send your file to it via the internet.

Who shall I contact

Support for your city planning authorization request

When you send your request by hand or by post, the City Hall will issue you a receipt.

When you submit your application electronically, the receipt shall consist of the electronic acknowledgement of receipt.

The receipt contains the registration number of your file and the information allowing you to know the date from which the work can start.

He states that, within 1 month of the filing of the file, the City Hall can notify a different time frame to start your work. She also has 1 month to notify you if your file is incomplete.

Filing in town hall or by mail

Your permit application can be submitted or mailed RAR: titleContent to the town hall.

Who shall I contact

You must deposit  :

  • 5 complete building permit application files (6 for a natural park project)
  • 5 copies of the situation plans additional
  • 5 copies of the ground plane additional
  • 5 copies of the cross-sectional planes additional

The city hall delivers you a receipt. It contains the registration number of your file and information allowing you to know the date from which the work can start.

This receipt states that, within 1 month from the filing of the file, the City Hall can notify a different time frame to start your work. She also has 1 month to inform you that your file is incomplete.

In Paris

You must submit your file to the BASU: titleContent by dematerialized means only:

Office Accueil et Service à l'Usager (BASU) de Paris: one-stop-shop

The starting point of the investigation period differs if your file is complete or not.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Your file is complete

For a detached house, the time-limit for the investigation is 3 months from the date of submission of the complete file to the City Hall.

For other projects, the time limit shall in principle be 4 months.

Your file is incomplete

Within 1 month of receipt or submission of your permit application to the City Hall, she will send you a letter RAR: titleContent or by electronic means a request for missing documents.

You have 3 months to send the requested parts. If you do not provide them, your license application will be considered rejected.

The instruction timeout starts when your folder is full.

For a detached house, it is 3 months.

For other projects, the time limit shall in principle be 4 months.

The decision is addressed to you by letter RAR: titleContent or by READ: titleContent or by an equivalent electronic process.

You may receive a decision authorizing, refusing, staying a decision or not receive a reply.

Authorization

The decision to grant you a building permit takes the form ofan order signed by the mayor.

Warning  

Within 3 months of the date of the decision, the mayor may withdraw a permit if he considers that it has been issued illegally.

Lack of response

In some cases, the lack of response from the city hall means that your request is rejected.

This is a implied decision to refuse a permit (without writing).

This is the case, for example, for the following projects:

  • Subject to consultation of the architect of the Bâtiments de France (ABF) when he has issued an unfavorable opinion or a favorable opinion with prescriptions
  • On a building listed as a historical monument
  • In the heart of a national park

Refusal

Refusal of building permits takes the form ofone by-law specifying the reasons for the refusal. It must indicate the means and time limits for appealing against this decision.

Stay of proceedings

In certain circumstances, the mayor may postpone decision on your license for up to 2 years. This is the case, for example, when your work request may compromise or make it more expensive to execute a future project MORE: titleContent or a development operation.

The mayor takes a stay of proceedings.

Your permit is neither accepted nor refused. It will be reviewed later.

The reasons for the decision and the remedies and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Within 2 months of the expiry of the stay of proceedings, you must confirm your permit application. Within 2 months of your request, you will receive the mayor's decision.

FYI  

A landowner who has been granted a stay of proceedings may apply to the community (or the public service that initiated the stay) to purchase the land.

Once your building permit has been accepted, its display on the ground is mandatory.

The view must remain in place for the duration of the work and be visible from the outside. The information on your billboard must be legible on the public highway or in spaces open to the public.

For 2 months from 1er day of display in the field, your neighbors or any other person with an interest in acting (future buyer or tenant for example) can to challenge the authorization which has been granted to you. They then make a free appeal to the mayor who issued the authorization.

When the mayor refuses your application for a building permit or issues a stay order, you can challenge it.

In the 2 months that follow the date of notification of the decision, you can make a ex gratia appeal by letter RAR: titleContent by the town hall.

Who shall I contact

If your grace attempt fails, you have a new grace period of 2 months to make a appeal to the administrative court, by letter RAR: titleContent. You must clearly state the reasons for your right to a building permit.

You must apply to the administrative court within whose jurisdiction your municipality is located.

Who shall I contact

Period of validity of the building permit

The building permit has a period of validity three years old.

It expires if you have not started the work within 3 years or if, after this period, you interrupt it for more than 1 year.

Request for extension

The period of validity may be extended 2 times for 1 year if the city planning rules and administrative easements have not changed.

You have to ask for it At least 2 months before the end of the initial period of validity of your building permit (or before the expiration of your 1re request for extension).

This request must be made in 2 copies by letter RAR: titleContent or dropped off in town hall.

Upon receipt of your request, the City Hall has 2 months to answer you.

The extension is granted if you do not receive a reply within this time limit.

The site opening declaration is mandatory.

Before your work begins, you must declare the opening of the site on a form to be deposited or sent to the town hall, preferably by letter RAR: titleContent .

Declaration of the opening of the construction site

Who shall I contact

When you have finished your work, you must declare their completion and compliance, to the City Hall, with the following form:

Declaration of completion and conformity of works

When you have finished your work, you must declare their completion and compliance, to the City Hall, with the following form:

Declaration of completion and conformity of works

The construction, reconstruction and expansion of the buildings shall give rise to the payment of development tax and possibly the Preventive Archeology Charge.

The elements for the calculation of the fees shall be declared within 90 days the completion of your work in the fiscal sense.

You make this declaration from your secure space on the tax website.

You are sent collection documents following your declaration.

If it does not exceed €1,500 , the development tax is payable in one installment, 90 days after the completion of the works.

When its amount exceeds €1,500, the tax is payable in 2 times, 90 days and 9 months after completion of the work.

Support for your city planning authorization request

Office Accueil et Service à l'Usager (BASU) de Paris: one-stop-shop

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • For information on city planning regulations and administrative procedures

    Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service

    For more information on this topic, you can contact Allô Service Public.

    Cost: free service

    The informants who answer you belong to the ministry in charge of housing and city planning.

    Attention: the service does not have access to users' personal files and cannot therefore provide information on their status.

    The service is available at the following times:

      • Lundi : de 08h30 à 16h15
      • Mardi : de 08h30 à 12h15
      • Mercredi : de 08h30 à 12h15
      • Jeudi : de 08h30 à 17h30
      • Vendredi : de 13h00 à 16h15

    Request a call

  • For information on your local city planning plan or building permit file

    Town Hall

  • For information on the local city planning plan or your building permit file in Paris

    Paris: Reception and service desk (BASU)

  • For information about city planning policies based on your industry's overall architecture

    Architectural, city planning and Environmental Council (CAUE)

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