Building project; submission of documents for exemption from authorisation

The construction, alteration or change of use of a building may be exempt from planning permission under the following conditions:

• The project is not a special-purpose building,
• it falls within the scope of a detailed development plan or a project-specific development plan,
• it complies with the provisions of the local development plan and any applicable local building regulations,
• access is guaranteed and
• This is not a domestic or commercial building project for which the local authority has, through a local development plan, excluded the application of the exemption from planning permission.

Despite these conditions being met, the local authority may declare that a planning permission procedure is to be carried out.

There are generally no deadlines.

However, if you wish to commence construction more than four years after it has become permissible following an exemption procedure, you must go through the exemption procedure again.

• Building application form
• Building specifications for the planning application form
• Consent to the transfer of the setback area
• Planning application forms (all)

  The building application forms officially published by the Bavarian State Ministry for Housing, Construction and Transport can be downloaded individually or as a ZIP file. You also have access to guidance on specific building application forms.

There are no fees for exemption from the planning permission requirement. If the local authority informs you, before the one-month deadline has expired, that no planning permission procedure will be carried out, it may charge a fee for this if this is provided for in a local authority schedule of charges.

• Section 58 of the Bavarian Building Regulations (BayBO)

  Exemption from authorisation

• Ordinance on building documents and notifications to building authorities (Bauvorlagenverordnung - BauVorlV)
• Ordinance on the digital submission of building authority applications and notifications (Digital Building Application Ordinance - DBauV)

• Exemption from authorisation
• Structural verification

Written submission

Please note, first of all, that for planning applications relating to the construction and alteration of buildings, the planning documents must be drawn up by a qualified designer (architect, civil engineer; for smaller building projects, in particular single-family and two-family houses, also master craftsmen in the building and carpentry trades and state-certified technicians specialising in building technology) must be drawn up. This also applies to documents submitted under the exemption from planning permission procedure.

• Please submit the required documents to the local authority in whose area the building plot is situated.
• The documents must be the same as those required for a planning application, together with the building plans, and must be submitted in triplicate using the prescribed forms.
• You must notify the neighbours of the building plot of the building project no later than when you submit the documents to the local authority. It is preferable to involve the neighbours at an earlier stage by submitting the site plan and building plans to them for their approval.
• The local authority may require a planning permission procedure to be carried out within one month of the documents being submitted. This means that the documents will automatically be processed as a planning application, provided you have indicated this on the planning application form. The lower building control authority is responsible for assessing the building application and making a decision on it.
• If, on the other hand, the local authority does not request that the simplified planning permission procedure be carried out within one month, or if it informs you in writing that no planning permission procedure is to be carried out, your project is exempt from planning permission.

Digital submission

It is not yet possible to submit documents digitally as part of the exemption from planning permission procedure throughout Bavaria. When you select a location, a link to the online procedure will appear, provided it is already available.

• The documents can be submitted digitally using the online wizard.
• The standard building application and building specification forms are replaced by the questions in the online wizard. The building documents are uploaded to the online wizard in electronic form (PDF files).
• The signatures of the client and the designer authorised to submit building plans are replaced by authentication via a ‘BayernID’ or ‘Mein Unternehmenskonto’ user account. In particular, the (large-format) construction drawings do not need to be signed either. They can therefore be generated directly as files within the designer’s CAD system. If the planning documents are to be drawn up by a designer authorised to submit planning applications, that designer must authenticate themselves and submit the documents on behalf of the client.
• The documents are first sent to the lower-level building control authority, which forwards them immediately to the relevant local authority. The one-month period, at the end of which the project is exempt from planning permission, begins upon submission of the digital documents.

If your building project is exempt from planning permission, you are personally responsible for ensuring that the conditions for the exemption are met and that the relevant public law regulations are complied with.

Please note that even for building projects exempt from planning permission, you must notify the local building control authority of the start of construction at least one week in advance.

If the local authority does not inform you within one month of the submission of the required documents that the simplified approval procedure is to be carried out, you may commence work. This does not apply if the local authority applies for a provisional prohibition within one month of the submission of the required documents.