The simplified notification procedure replaces the permit for a list of works set out in article 294, and the full list, with every area and siting condition, is on the simplified notification page.
Three things do not show up in that list, though: the ways in are very different from one another, tacit approval is only one of five exits, and the date you may start is not the one most people remember.
Three ways in, on conditions that look nothing alike
Article 294 paragraph (2) letter a) opens new buildings, but with a hard geographic filter: rural only, inside the built-up area, outside protected zones; outbuildings of at most 50 sqm in total; a single-family house only at ground floor, or semi-basement and ground floor, with no basement, at most 150 sqm, and only from a standard design provided by the authorities or an individual design approved by the county chief architect. Letter b) opens interventions on existing buildings, with a wider geographic filter but a strict list, from fences and roofs through to toilets of at most 25 sqm. And paragraph (3) opens a route in protected zones, conditional on prior notification to the deconcentrated heritage service and on that service’s written agreement.
The first gate is, in practice, shut for most people. The conditions stack, rural plus built-up area plus either a standard design or a chief architect’s approval, and what is left inside is a fairly particular case.
The second is the one that matters to most people, and it is the least read. There are eleven categories of intervention, and some of them, converting an existing attic or an energy retrofit on a building of at most three storeys, cover work people assume automatically needs a permit.
The third is not an exception but a gate with a gatekeeper. The heritage service’s written agreement sets the conditions and the deadlines, so in a protected zone the “simplified” procedure begins with a negotiation rather than a form.
Tacit approval is one of five exits
Article 296 paragraph (1) lists five possible decisions, all within at most 15 working days: tacit approval, letter a); a request for clarification, letter b); a finding that supplementary documentation is needed for avize, letter c); notice that you actually need a permit, letter d); and reasoned rejection, letter e).
This is the confusion we expect to see most. “I notify and in 15 working days I can start” describes one branch out of five, and letter d) is the branch that sends you back to the start of the authorisation procedure, having spent the 15 days.
It is worth treating as an application with five possible answers, not a formality with an expected result. We wrote about what we think it changes and what it does not in our analysis of tacit approval.
The start date is not the one you remember
Article 296 paragraph (6) says notified works begin “la 15 zile calendaristice după împlinirea termenului prevăzut la alin. (1) lit. a)”, 15 calendar days after the tacit-approval period expires. And paragraph (5) gives notified works 3 years from those periods expiring in which to be carried out.
So there are two intervals, not one: 15 working days to tacit approval, then another 15 calendar days before you are allowed to start. Anyone who books their crew for day 15 will spend a fortnight with the site open and no right to work on it.
It is exactly the kind of detail that produces not a fine but a loss: a missed booking, plant hired for nothing.
A question does not start the clock
Article 295 paragraph (9) is worth reading for anyone tempted to ring the primărie and ask “do I qualify?”. Petitions asking for works to be classified under a particular authorisation regime “nu reprezintă notificări în sensul prezentei secțiuni”, are not notifications for this purpose, and are handled under general law.
Which means a different deadline, and no tacit approval. The question is free and unlimited, but it does not buy time.
The clock starts only on a complete notification: the form, plus the simplified execution design required by article 295 paragraph (4), plus proof the fees were paid. You check eligibility beforehand, against the text of article 294 and, if anything is borderline, with your designer. We wrote about the deadlines across the whole route in the order of steps.
Eligibility first, then the form
The notification form is approved by ministerial order, article 295 paragraph (10). From 26 August 2026 the models approved by Ordinul 975/2026 apply, and they cover the notificare procedure too. We could not verify that order against the official source, so ask the primărie where you file which form it takes today. We wrote about the gap between rules and forms in the piece on the transition. What changes after the notification is in what is no longer asked, and the end of the job is in signing off a house you built yourself.
This article is analysis, not legal advice. The provisions cited are from Legea 169/2026, published in Monitorul Oficial no. 661 of 10 August 2026. Check your own situation with the issuing authority.