Building permit

About the permit

You may need a building permit from the municipality if you want to:

•    erect a new building 
•    extend a building so that it becomes larger 
•    change the use of a building, in whole or in part, to a significantly different purpose 
•    alter a building to provide new residence or premises
•    change a façade, such as repainting or changing the roof covering
•    set up a storage yard/depot or erect a sign, a close-boarded fence, or a wall.

Building permits are also required, for example, to build amusement parks, zoos, sports grounds, ski slopes with lifts, camping grounds, shooting ranges, marinas, open-air baths, motor racing tracks, golf courses and car parks. A building permit is also required if you want to make major or important changes to such a facility.

The municipality may decide on other exemptions from the requirement for a building permit in some areas, or extend the requirements, for instance in areas with high cultural-historical values. 

If you are not certain whether you require a building permit or not, you should contact your municipality's local building committee.
 

Requirements 

When the municipality examines an application for a building permit, it examines where the building or facility will be located and how it will be designed. If the project is located within a planning zone, the municipality must examine if the project is in accordance with the development plan. The municipality investigates whether the building project is suitable, considering the landscape and cityscape, and if it will entail a hazard or substantial inconvenience for its neighbours.

The building is to have an aesthetically pleasing design and colour. If you are going to make alterations to a building, they must be done carefully and with consideration for the character of the building.

For all projects that require a building permit, there must be an inspection plan. In many cases there must also be an inspection manager, who is independent in relation to the builder. The inspection manager is to assist the builder or developer to produce an inspection plan for the project. 

If your building permit application is approved, you must get a starting clearance (startbesked) from the municipality before you can start the building works.

In some cases, the municipality's local building committee will hold a technical consultation session with you where they review planning for the work, the proposed inspection plan, and the other documentation to see if they can provide a start notification for the works. In some cases, you made need to submit more documents to the local building committee in order to receive your starting clearance. 

If you start the construction works before receiving this clearance, you will be liable to pay a sanction fee (byggsanktionsavgift). 
 

Permit issuer and supervision

You apply for a building permit from the municipality. The municipality is also the supervisory authority.