How do you obtain a building permit?

Assembling and filing the application

The application is made on the dedicated Cerfa form (single-family house or other projects). Since 1 January 2022, municipalities of more than 3,500 inhabitants must have an online procedure allowing them to receive and examine applications in electronic form (article L.423-3 of the French Town Planning Code), but paper filing at the town hall, against a receipt, remains possible.

The application includes, in particular, a site location plan, a layout plan, a section plan, plans of the facades and roofs, a description of the project and how it fits into its surroundings, and photographs of the land from near and far. A project bringing the total floor area or ground footprint beyond 150 m² requires the use of an architect: the exemption in article R.431-2 of the French Town Planning Code benefits only natural persons who build for themselves below that threshold.

• The receipt given at filing states the date the review begins and the applicable timeline.
• An incomplete application gives rise to a request for documents within the first month; the timeline runs only once the missing documents are received.
• Posting a notice of filing at the town hall informs third parties as soon as the application is registered.

Review timelines and the decision

The standard timeline is two months for a single-family house and its outbuildings, and three months for other constructions (article R.423-23 of the French Town Planning Code). This timeline may be extended when the project requires an external consultation, for example the opinion of the architect of the Batiments de France in a protected area (article R.423-24 of the French Town Planning Code).

At expiry, the administration's silence amounts in principle to a tacit permit (article R.424-1 of the French Town Planning Code). This rule has exhaustively listed exceptions. Silence amounts instead to a refusal where the decision is subject to the agreement of the architect of the Batiments de France and the latter has notified an unfavourable opinion, or a favourable opinion subject to conditions (article R.424-3), and also, in particular, where the project concerns a building classified as a historic monument (article R.424-2). The express decision takes the form of an order (arrete) issued by the mayor.

After obtaining it: posting and validity

The permit must be posted on the site by its holder, on a sign whose wording remains legible from the public road, throughout the works (article R.424-15 of the French Town Planning Code). In practice, this posting must be maintained for at least two months without interruption, because it is a continuous two-month period that starts the third-party appeal period running (article R.600-2). The municipality also posts an extract of the permit at the town hall for two months, within eight days of issuing it.

The permit lapses if the works do not begin within three years, or if they are then interrupted for more than one year (article R.424-17 of the French Town Planning Code). It can be extended twice for one year, provided the applicable town planning requirements and administrative easements have not changed unfavourably for the project (article R.424-21). On completion, a declaration certifying the completion and conformity of the works must be filed at the town hall.