Building permits in Germany: procedures

Four routes, not one

A building project does not automatically follow a single permit route. The applicable state building code sorts projects into four routes, and the route decides the waiting time, the fee, the depth of the check and how much liability stays with you rather than with the authority.

The four are: no procedure at all under § 61, a building notice under § 62, a simplified permit under § 63, and the full permit under § 64. For an ordinary detached house on a plot inside a valid development plan, three of the four are potentially open, and buyers are rarely told that the choice exists. Getting it right is worth weeks and, on a slow district, months. Federal law sets the planning framework, state law supplies the building procedure, and the municipality applies the local development plan.

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Verfahrensfrei: building without any application

§ 61 lists what needs no procedure. The practical entries for a plot owner: a building without habitable rooms, lavatories or fireplaces up to 75 cubic metres of gross volume outside the Außenbereich, which does not cover garages, stables or sales buildings; a single-storey garage or covered bicycle stand up to 100 square metres of floor area inside the area of a development plan under § 30 Abs. 1 or 2 BauGB; and garages and covered parking with a mean wall height up to 3 metres and a total gross floor area up to 50 square metres per building plot, again not in the Außenbereich.

Two warnings sit in § 61 Abs. 1 itself. Freedom from procedure does not release you from any substantive rule, so setbacks, the development plan and nature law all still apply. And the building authority keeps its powers of intervention, which means a shed that breaks a rule can still be ordered away. Nobody has checked your drawing, so the mistake is yours.

Know the plot before you choose the route. A GrundCheck preflight report sets out the planning context and the constraints on the parcel, which is what decides whether the quick routes are open at all. Check a parcel.

Bauanzeige under § 62: the fast route, with conditions

The building notice applies to the construction and alteration of residential buildings of building classes 1 and 2, together with the necessary parking, bicycle stands, garages and ancillary buildings, inside the area of a legally effective development plan under § 30 Abs. 1 or Abs. 2 BauGB. Two conditions attach: the project must not contradict the plan's provisions, and the Erschließung (legal access and servicing) must be secured.

The timetable is written into the section. The authority confirms the date of receipt within one week. Construction may begin one month after receipt, unless the authority prohibits it or releases it earlier. The right to build then lapses after four years, and does not lapse if the work started inside that window and is finished within one year of it.

The authority must prohibit the work where the conditions are not met, where the notice or its documents are incomplete or incorrect, or where a Veränderungssperre under § 14 or a deferral under § 15 BauGB applies. Reasons have to be given individually and inside the same month.

Simplified permit under § 63, and the silent approval

The simplified procedure covers residential buildings of building classes 1 to 3 in a development plan area, on the same two conditions. It differs from the notice in that a permit is actually issued, and in one clause worth knowing: the authority has three months from the complete application to decide, extendable by up to two months for an important reason, and if it does not decide in time the application counts as approved.

The price of the speed is a declaration. The designer must certify that the project needs no exception or Befreiung under § 31 BauGB and no Abweichung under § 67, and that it otherwise complies with public law. Sign that wrongly and the risk is on the design side, not on the authority's.

Fee examples by construction value

Linear scale · short positive bars use a minimum visible length

EUR 300,000 · simplified3,300.00 EUR

EUR 300,000 · full4,200.00 EUR

EUR 450,000 · simplified4,950.00 EUR

EUR 450,000 · full6,300.00 EUR

Source: Brandenburg Building Fees Ordinance: 1.1% for the simplified and 1.4% for the full procedure; checked August 2026

The full procedure under § 64

Everything else runs through the full permit: anything outside a development plan area, anything that needs an exception, larger and non-residential buildings, and every project in the Außenbereich. Here the authority checks the Baugesetzbuch, the building ordinance and other public-law rules, and the permit under § 72 of the applicable state building code then includes the other official decisions the project needs, which is the real advantage of the slower route.

Note one condition specific to the open countryside. For projects in the Außenbereich, the permit is issued only once the authority holds the required demolition undertaking and security for the cost of that demolition. Solar farms, wind turbines and agricultural buildings therefore need money set aside before the permit arrives.

The clock on the authority

§ 69 gives the first two deadlines. Within three weeks of receipt the authority has to check whether the documents are complete and confirm receipt, and it brings in the other bodies immediately, who then have two weeks to say which further decisions the permit must include and what else they need.

The trap is in the next subsection. If the application is incomplete or has other serious defects, the authority sets a reasonable period to cure them, and where that period passes unused the application counts as withdrawn. Not delayed, withdrawn. A buyer waiting quietly for news can lose the application entirely, so a diary date on every request from the authority is worth more than any amount of chasing afterwards.

Vorbescheid: the answer before the money

Before the full application, § 75 lets you have individual questions answered by binding preliminary decision. That is the instrument for the question that actually matters to a buyer: may a house of roughly this size be built on this plot at all.

Two features make it valuable. Where the questions concern decisions that the permit would include, the authority answers them in consultation with the other bodies and its answer binds them too. And under the applicable state building code the Vorbescheid is valid for seven years, the same as a permit. So a Vorbescheid obtained before completion, or made a condition of it, converts an argument about buildability into a document. The buildability guide covers what to ask.

Sequence before the building application

1. Settle planning lawB-Plan, § 34 or § 35 BauGB
2. Pre-applicationAsk only the purchase-critical question
3. Commission documentsDesign, site plan and evidence
4. Choose the correct routeState building code
5. Read the decision and conditionsOnly then bind construction and finance

Source: BauGB §§ 30, 34 and 35 plus the building code of the relevant state; checked August 2026

How long a permit lasts

Seven years, under § 73 Abs. 1, for the permit, the partial permit and the Vorbescheid alike. The permit does not lapse where the project was begun inside that period and the start of use was notified no later than one year after it expires. An appeal by a neighbour suspends the running of the period until the permit becomes unchallengeable.

Seven years is generous by German standards and it changes how an old permit should be read. A permit issued in 2021 on the plot you are buying may still be alive. Ask for it, check the date, and check whether the design it authorises is the design you want, because an existing permit is an asset that a new application would take months to replace.

When the municipality says no

Outside a development plan, the municipality has to give its consent under § 36 BauGB, and that consent counts as given if it does not refuse within two months of the request. Municipalities do refuse, sometimes for reasons that have little to do with planning law.

The state building law has an answer to that. § 71 of the applicable state building code lets the building authority replace a municipal consent that was refused unlawfully, so a refusal is not automatically the end of a project. It is, however, a delay measured in months and usually a matter for a lawyer. The cheaper move is to talk to the municipality before the application rather than after the refusal.

Exceptions, deviations and the neighbours

Two different instruments cover a project that does not quite fit. § 31 BauGB deals with the planning side: an Ausnahme where the development plan itself provides for one, and a Befreiung from a provision of the plan where the conditions in Abs. 2 are met. § 67 of the applicable state building code deals with the building side, allowing a deviation from the technical requirements of the ordinance.

Both are discretionary, both take time, and both close the quick routes. The simplified procedure is available only where the designer can certify that neither is needed, so a house that is two metres too close to a boundary or half a storey too tall moves into the full procedure with everything that follows. Where the design can be adjusted to fit the plan instead, the adjustment is almost always cheaper than the application.

§ 70 governs the involvement of neighbours and the public. Where a project affects them, and particularly where a Befreiung or a deviation is sought, the affected neighbours are heard. A neighbour who signs the plans is treated as having consented, which is why designers ask for signatures early.

The signature is worth collecting even where it is not strictly required. A neighbour asked in advance, shown the drawing and given a reason usually signs; the same neighbour who first hears about the project from the building authority frequently does not. Where a Befreiung is being sought, that difference decides whether the application takes three months or a year.

A neighbour who does not consent can challenge the permit afterwards, and § 73 Abs. 1 states plainly that lodging a legal remedy suspends the running of the validity period until the permit becomes unchallengeable. The permit remains, but building on a challenged permit is building at risk. On a plot where the relationship with the neighbours is already strained, that risk belongs in the purchase decision rather than in the construction schedule.

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What it costs

Fees come from the applicable state fee ordinance and are calculated from the Bauwert rather than from the effort involved. The rate is 1.1 percent of the Bauwert in the simplified procedure and 1.4 percent in the full procedure, with a minimum of 100 €.

For a house with a Bauwert of 300 000 € that is 3 300 € or 4 200 €, and for 450 000 € roughly 4 950 € or 6 300 €. Add the design and structural documents, which are the larger cost, and the surveyor's site plan that the application needs. The fee is payable whether or not the permit is granted, which is another argument for settling the difficult question with a Vorbescheid first.

Who may sign the application

Not you. § 65 restricts the right to submit building documents to people on the state list, which in practice means an architect or a qualified engineer. The designer carries real responsibility, particularly in the simplified procedure where their declaration replaces part of the authority's check.

The designer's role also decides what the authority checks. In the simplified procedure their declaration replaces part of the official examination, so a permit can be granted on a drawing that nobody at the district has read line by line. That is a saving in time and a transfer of risk, and it is worth asking a designer directly how they handle it.

Choose one who works in the district in question. Building supervision practice varies noticeably between the fourteen Landkreise and the four independent cities, and a designer who knows which questions a particular office asks will produce a complete application first time. Given that an incomplete application can count as withdrawn, that local knowledge is not a soft benefit.

The routes side by side

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What building supervision can do afterwards

The permit is not the end of the authority's involvement. § 79 allows work to be stopped, § 80 allows an order to remove a structure or to prohibit a use, and § 83 requires notification at defined stages of construction and before the building is occupied. Where a project was verfahrensfrei, all of these still apply.

For a buyer the relevance is historical. A plot may carry a structure that was never approved, or a use that was never permitted, and those problems transfer with the land. Ask what is on the plot, ask what document covers it, and treat a missing answer as a cost rather than as a detail. The due diligence checklist lists the documents worth collecting.

A workable sequence for a buyer

• Establish the planning basis first: development plan, § 34 or § 35 BauGB. That decides which routes exist.
• Where buildability is uncertain, apply for a Vorbescheid under § 75 and make completion conditional on the answer.
• Check the Erschließung, because both quick routes require it to be secured.
• Ask for any existing permit or Vorbescheid on the plot and check the seven-year clock.
• Instruct a designer with a licence to submit and experience in that district.
• Diary every deadline the authority sets, since an unanswered request ends the application.

Start with what the parcel allows. Order a GrundCheck preflight report and take the planning picture to the designer before paying for a full set of drawings. Check a parcel.

Documents before the application

Before filing, assemble the site plan, drawings, description of the building, drainage and parking information, and any evidence needed for stability, fire safety or energy requirements. The chosen route determines which documents the building authority will require, including supporting declarations.

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Where these rules are written

• Procedures, deadlines and validity: the applicable state building code, §§ 61 to 64, 69, 71 to 75, 79, 80 and 83.
• State comparison: Art. 71 BayBO; § 57 LBO; § 75 Abs. 1 BbgBO; § 75 Abs. 3 BbgBO; § 75 Abs. 1 BremLBO; § 75 Abs. 1 HBauO; § 73 Abs. 2 HBauO; § 76 HBO; § 75 LBauO M-V; § 73 Abs. 2 NBauO; § 71 Satz 3 NBauO; § 77 Abs. 1 BauO NRW 2018; § 72 LBauO Rheinland-Pfalz; § 76 LBO; § 76 Satz 2 LBO; § 76 Satz 3 LBO; § 74 Abs. 1 LBO; § 74 BauO LSA; § 75 LBO; § 82 ThürBO.
• Fees: applicable state fee ordinance.
• Planning permissibility: § 30, § 31, § 34, § 35 and § 36 BauGB; § 14 and § 15 BauGB for the freeze.
• Official geodata for the site plan and context: GEOBROKER and the state geoportal viewer.

Rules and figures were checked in August 2026. This is general information for buyers, not legal advice on your project. Read next: access and Erschließung, building in the outer area and costs, taxes and fees.

Reading the permit with the purchase contract

Match every existing approval to the parcel, drawings, conditions and validity period, then allocate any outstanding compliance risk expressly in the contract.

What differs between states

Permit routes, deadlines, fees and preliminary-decision validity are set by the applicable state building code.