They are selling studios with a 27-square meter usable area or three-room apartments with a usable area of 54 square meters even though Law 114/1996 sets minimum requirements for the usable areas of a home, which go from 37 square meters for a studio to 66 square meters for a three-room apartment.
“The City Hall issues the construction permits, but many of those working there do not know the law and issue the permits despite the projects’ failure to comply with the law. Sometimes people reach an agreement and get the permits anyway. If the building is found non-compliant, the State Inspectorate for Constructions can have it torn down or issue fines and require compliance with the law,” says a construction site supervisor licensed by the Inspectorate.
Any breach of the basic requirements for buildings as stipulated in the technical regulations in force at the time of contracting design and construction is an offence punishable by 10,000 to 20,000 lei fine, says Law 10/1995 on construction quality.
Developers say they are merely adjusting supply to the buying potential, which shows in how quickly these homes sell off-plan.
“The 27-square meter studios were the best-sellers and the fastest to go. Research is done before building such homes and if such apartments exist, it is because there is demand on the market,” says Iulian Calin, general manager of Alpha Real Estate, which owns Poseidon Residence near the Plumbuita Lake in Colentina district in NE Bucharest. Alpha bought it in November 2013, after previous developer, Copper Beech Capital, went bankrupt.
People are now buying homes by looking at location and finishes and not so much at the usable area they are offered.
“The location is increasingly important, and people chose it over surface area. (…) There are certain procedures, we cannot say there is a non-compliance with the law,” says Daniela Barbu, marketing manager of Arcadia Apartments, developed by businessman Dan Sucu in Domenii-Expozitiei, a very attractive area for real estate development in Bucharest.
Arcadia Apartments promotes two-room apartments with a usable area of 44 to 46 square meters and three-room apartments with a usable area of 53 square meters on its website.
The officials of the developer say that when the price of the apartment is higher than 450,000 lei (almost EUR100,000), the VAT the buyer pays is 19%, while the VAT for a lower price than that is 5%. This makes developers build apartments with more rooms yet less usable area to cover construction costs and adjust to the purchasing power of the customers.
Law 114/1996 regulating various aspects about homes sets the minimum requirements for usable areas depending on the number of people living in a home. The minimum requirement of 52 square meters for a two-room apartment is intended for two people living there, while the 66 square meters for three rooms are required when three people live in the apartment. When the number of people increases, the usable area must be higher. This is one of the arguments developers use, who say they are actually building for fewer people than stipulated in the law, hence the lower usable area.
Real estate developers’ compliance with the law should be checked by the institutions that issue construction permits, i.e. the sector city halls, in Bucharest.
“This is matter of discipline and safety. A minimum requirement for usable area is not only about comfort, it is about air quality and fire safety. We have modern home projects with small usable areas. They are encouraged by the First Home scheme because developers are building smaller homes to comply with the price requirements of the scheme,” says lawyer Gheorghe Piperea.
The State Inspectorate for Constructions, whose role is to check construction quality, did not return ZF’s calls for comment by press time.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)