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.
The construction notification proceeding
The list and content of the documentation accompanying the simple and detailed construction notifications, and the procedure for agreeing the construction, are determined by a decree of the Government of Georgia. Where the construction provided for in the notification does not conform to the requirements established by legislation, the respective administrative organ is obliged to adopt a negative decision. An important guarantee concerns time: if no answer to the notification is given within the set period, the applicant is entitled to begin the construction provided for in the notification; after the expiry of the set period, where the permit seeker so requests, the administrative organ is obliged to issue a written consent within 3 working days of the request. In that case the construction must be carried out in conformity with the submitted documentation and the technical regulations in force.
An opt-out exists as well: a permit seeker is entitled, instead of the simple or detailed notification, to request the issuance of a construction permit — in which case the documentation defined by the Code for the permit application must be submitted to the respective administrative organ. The period of validity of a construction notification is 1 year from its submission — meaning that construction on the basis of the notification must begin within that period.