Building a residential house in Georgia is governed by the Spatial Planning, Urban Development and Construction Code: the legal basis for carrying out the construction of a building is a construction notification or a construction permit. The construction of a class I building is subject to a simple notification, while class II–IV buildings require a permit — which is why, before designing your house, it is decisive to establish the class your building is assigned to under the Code's classification rules. This page explains how the construction notification proceeding runs, what happens if no answer comes, when a permit is needed, and within which timeframes matters are decided.
The legal basis: simple notification or permit
Under the Code, the legal basis for carrying out the construction of a building is a construction notification or a construction permit, with defined exceptions: making an insignificant change to a building or to the construction documentation determined by Georgian legislation requires neither. The Code anchors the choice to classes: the construction of a class I building is, apart from cases provided by the Code, subject to a simple construction notification, while the construction of class II–IV buildings is subject to the obligation to obtain a construction permit. A municipal exception exists as well: a municipal assembly may, within its administrative boundaries or a part of them, prescribe for a class I building a detailed notification or a permit obligation instead of the simple notification. Note also: construction subject to notification but begun without it constitutes unauthorized construction.