07.03.2024

Legislative novelties on buildings at seismic risk

As we pointed out in a previous article (for Hotnews.ro) / article (for Juridice.ro) / article (for UJ.ro), on July 14, 2022, in the Official Gazette was published Law no. 212/2022 on some measures to reduce the seismic risk of buildings (,,Law''). As the Law in its original form raised a number of problems in practice, over time there have been several discussions about amending it. Since its entry into force, i.e. July 29, 2022, Law No. 212/2022 has undergone two important amendments, the first being by OG 6/2023 and the second by Law No. 426/2023. Thus, in this article we will briefly present the main amendments to Law 212/2022.

National program for the strengthening of buildings with high seismic risk. We have shown in the previous article that, in its initial form, Law no. 212/2022 regulated the National Program for the Consolidation of Buildings at High Seismic Risk, which in turn included two sub-programs, namely a sub-program dedicated to buildings owned by public authorities and institutions and a sub-program dedicated to multi-storey buildings with the main purpose of housing.

By Law No 426/2023, some important changes were made to the two sub-programs, which are now called "sub-program for the design and execution of intervention works for buildings with main residential use " and "sub-program for the design and execution of intervention works for buildings of public interest and utility".

Buildings eligible for the sub-program for the design and execution of intervention works for buildings of public interest and utility. If before the amendment of Law No 212/2022, only buildings of public interest and utility owned by public authorities and institutions were included in this sub-program, following the amendment of the Law, all buildings of public interest and utility are eligible to be included in this sub-program, regardless of whether or not they are owned by public authorities or institutions. The criteria that will be used to select the buildings to be included in the sub-program are (i) the importance class of the building, being included only buildings classified in the I and II importance classes, respectively (ii) the peak value of the design earthquake ground acceleration to be greater than or equal to 0.15 g. With regard to the latter criterion, Law 212/2022 has been amended in the sense that the old regulation provided that buildings for which the peak value of the design earthquake ground acceleration was greater than or equal to 0.20 g were eligible.

Buildings eligible for the subprogram design and execution of intervention works for buildings primarily intended as dwellings. As explained in the previous article, Law No. 212/2022, in its original form, stipulated that in order to be eligible for the latter sub-program, seismic risk buildings had to meet a number of conditions, namely (i) they had to have a minimum P + 3 and a minimum of 10 apartments and (ii) the peak value of the peak ground acceleration for earthquake design had to be greater than or equal to 0.20 g.

With the amendments to Law 212/2022, the condition that the buildings eligible for the sub-program targeting buildings with a main residential use must be at least P+3 and have at least 10 apartments has been dropped. In addition, unlike the initial regulation, the current form of the Law also stipulates that buildings with a peak ground acceleration value for earthquake design greater than or equal to 0.15 g are eligible.

Prohibition on alienation. The initial form of Law No. 212/2022 established a prohibition on alienation for the owners or holders of buildings that have accessed the National Program for the Consolidation of Buildings at High Seismic Risk, the term being different depending on the sub-program accessed, namely (i) 25 years for premises for residential use in buildings included in the program and (ii) 10 years for premises for other uses in buildings included in the program.

Following the amendment of Law no. 212/2022, in the case of residential premises, the initial term was reduced from 25 years to 5 years from the date of notation of the right of claim of the administrative and territorial units and sub-units in Part III of the Land Register of the buildings included in the program. As regards premises for other purposes, the 10-year period remains unchanged.

In addition, it is important to note that the Law continues to provide for the possibility of alienation of buildings included in the program, subject to full reimbursement of the amounts allocated from the state and local budgets, respectively, calculated as a share of the total investment value.

State guaranteed loans. Another important change in Law no. 212/2022 is that the possibility has been introduced for owners' associations or owners to apply for state-guaranteed loans for the seismic rehabilitation of buildings.

In this case, the state will guarantee the loans for the seismic rehabilitation of buildings and will pay the interest on these loans through the institution mandated by the Ministry of Finance. In addition, only owners' associations or owners living in buildings classified in seismic risk classes RsI and RsII can benefit from the guaranteed loans.

Therefore, in view of the amendment to Law No 212/2022, owners' associations or building owners will have the possibility to either apply for State-guaranteed loans for the seismic retrofitting of eligible buildings or to access the National Program. In the latter case, as long as the owners comply with the deadlines established by the law on the prohibition of alienation, they will not have to reimburse any costs related to the reconsolidation and, as long as they wish to alienate the buildings before the expiry of the deadline within which alienation is prohibited, they will have to reimburse the costs related to the seismic rehabilitation.

Ban on the placement of advertising media. Another amendment to Law no. 212/2022 is that the prohibition of placing advertising means on the facade and/or terrace/roof of the building, suspension from pillars, walls, interior staircases and the like has been introduced in the case of buildings classified in seismic risk class RsI by technical expert report.

Agreement to access the National Program. We pointed out in the previous article that in its original form, Law no. 212/2022 provided that the inclusion in the sub-program dedicated to buildings with main residential use was possible only with the written consent of all owners (if no owners' association was established), i.e. the resolution of the owners' association, adopted, however, with the unanimous consent of the owners.

As this regulation caused problems in practice, as the refusal of one owner to access the National Program affected all owners, Law 212/2022 was amended. Thus, the new regulation stipulates that in order to access the sub-program dedicated to buildings with main residential use it is necessary to obtain the decision of the owners' association or the decisions of all owners' associations in the case of buildings where there is more than one owners' association, decisions taken by half plus one of the number of members. The law further provides that if the owners are not constituted in owners' associations, the written consent of half plus one of the owners' associations is sufficient.

Prohibition to rent or lease/let. The amendments to Law no. 212/2022 expressly prohibit the renting or letting on loan/lease of residential premises in buildings classified by a technical expert's report in seismic risk class RsI, from the date of classification in seismic risk class RsI and until the acceptance of the building upon completion of the intervention works carried out to increase the level of seismic safety of the existing building.

It is also forbidden to organize and carry out permanent and/or temporary activities in public spaces other than dwellings and other similar spaces involving crowds of people, from the date of classification of the existing building in seismic risk class RsI by a technical expert's report, until the acceptance of the building upon completion of the intervention works carried out to increase the level of safety against seismic actions.

Another novelty is that the amendments to Law no. 212/2022 define the term ''agglomerations of people '' as involving the simultaneous presence of at least 50 people in a room, or 25 people in the case of buildings used as places of worship, each of which is assigned a floor area of less than 4^m2

Finally, as proposed by the draft law initiated by the Government referred to in the previous article, the contracts for the organization and carrying out of the above-mentioned activities, as well as the contracts for the rental, loan or use of premises for residential use, in force at the date of classification of the building, by technical expert report, in seismic risk class RsI, shall terminate automatically 30 days after the date of classification.

In conclusion, Law no. 212/2022 has undergone a number of important changes over time, mainly aimed at relaxing the conditions for access to the National Program for the consolidation of buildings at high seismic risk.

An article signed by Daniel Aragea, Partner - daragea@stoica-asociatii.ro - and Andreea Gurică, Associate-agurica@stroica-asociatii.ro - STOICA & ASOCIAȚII