How to Apply

Development permission is applied for online. You will need an account, your documents ready as PDF files, and the professionals on your project named.

Before you start

Have these to hand. An application cannot be lodged without them:

• The title deed or lease document for the plot
• A current search
• The survey plan (cadastral)
• Architectural drawings
• Structural drawings
• The practising licence of your architect
• The practising licence of your structural engineer
• An up-to-date rates payment receipt
• A completed Building Indemnity Form

A NEMA EIA licence is also required where the development needs one.

Making the application

1. Create an account. Register with your email address and phone number, then open the activation link sent to you.
2. Start an application and work through it section by section. It saves as you go, so you can leave and come back.
3. Describe the plot and the development — the plot number, where it is, what you propose to build, its plinth area and floor levels.
4. Name the parties — the owner, the architect and the structural engineer, with their registration numbers.
5. Upload your documents. Each is checked as it arrives.
6. Accept the declaration and submit.

Your application is given a registered number at that point. Quote it in any correspondence with the county.

What happens next

Your file passes through the offices below in turn. You can see where it is at any time from your dashboard.

1. The County Physical Planner screens it and determines the fee
2. Revenue verifies your payment and receipts it
3. The County Surveyor reviews it
4. The County Architect reviews it
5. Public Health reviews it
6. The Structural Engineer reviews it
7. The Physical Planner consolidates the comments and makes a recommendation
8. The Chief Officer decides

If any office needs more from you, the file is returned with the reasons and you resubmit. This does not start the process again.

The decision

An approval is issued as Form P.P.A 2, the statutory notification of approval of development permission. It carries the conditions attached to your approval, a serial number and a code that anyone can use to confirm it is genuine.

Keep a copy on site. Approved drawings and the P.P.A 2 must be available for inspection throughout construction.