Division and Merger of Land Plots under the Code
If you are looking into "subdivision approval", start from the proper legal concept: the Spatial Planning, Architecture and Construction Code of Georgia regulates the division of construction land plots and the merger of construction plots through the norms of its development-regulation chapter — there is no separate "subdivision approval" procedure in the Code. This page describes those norms: when a plot may be divided or merged, which requirements apply and which document creates the legal basis.
The anchor point is that the basic basis of a plot's development regulation is the detailed development plan. On a plot located within the area of effect of that plan, construction is allowed in accordance with the plan, and the detailed development plan is the basic basis for issuing a construction permit. Other cases not covered by this rule are regulated by the respective norms of the Code and by the Basic Provisions.
Conditions for Division and Merger
Where a construction plot is divided, or construction plots are merged, on which a building is placed, the Code requires the requirements of the other norms of development regulation to be taken into account — specifically the norms regulating a plot located within a detailed-plan area, the determination of a plot's suitability for construction development, and the plot's infrastructure provision. Division or merger is therefore not merely a cadastral operation: the resulting plots must satisfy the planning requirements.
It also matters practically that the further development of an unsuitable plot or building — new construction, reconstruction changing parameters, adaptation, the division of a plot or the merger of plots — takes place on condition of reducing or eliminating the non-conformity. Where the existing plot does not satisfy the planning requirements, division or merger must move exactly toward reducing the non-conformity.
Establishing Conformity: Deadlines and Procedure
A plot or building is unsuitable for construction-development purposes where it does not conform to the use type permitted by the development plan or the Basic Provisions, to the development parameters, to the rules for placing buildings on the plot, to the plot-area parameters, or where it is located on territory not designated for construction. Non-conformity is established in each concrete case with respect to the concrete purpose of construction development.
An interested person may apply to the authorized organ with a statement on determining a plot's or building's conformity or non-conformity, and the organ is obliged to provide the applicant with information within 5 working days. If that information has not been provided before an application concerning a construction notification is filed, conformity is established at the stage of considering the notification or at Stage I of issuing a construction permit — and, in the case provided for by the Code, at the stage of considering the detailed development plan. Special regimes apply as well: cultural-heritage protection zones, protected areas and forest, water or subsoil-fund lands impose their own requirements on construction use.