Changing the designated purpose of a property, known as a change of use, is an administrative procedure that requires authorization to modify how a real estate unit is utilized. This process typically involves a specific series of steps, starting with submitting a permit application to the local authority for urban planning aspects and concluding with updates to land registry records. This alteration may or may not involve changes in property category, thus differentiating between significant and non-significant changes of use.
A change of use that is urbanistically significant occurs when there is a request to modify the original intended purpose of a property, leading to a shift to a different functional category. A common example is changing from a commercial to a residential category, such as converting an office into an apartment or vice versa. This type of change generally requires obtaining permission from the local council through the approval of a building permit.
Conversely, a change of use is considered non-significant if the modification does not result in a change of functional category. For instance, if a property remains within the residential category, a permit from the local authority is not typically required, unless the change involves structural or system-related works.
Relevant categories of use are often classified into broad groups. These can typically be summarized into five main types:
- Residential: This category includes dwellings, professional studios (where the residential aspect is primary), and lodging houses, provided the unit’s area is mainly intended for residential use.
- Tourist-Accommodation: This encompasses hotels, tourist residences, campsites, parking areas, hostels, and properties primarily intended for accommodation purposes.
- Productive and Directional: This category includes workshops, factories, warehouses, construction companies, repair shops, and similar locations. It also covers activities aimed at producing goods or services, processing goods or materials, spaces for marketing produced goods, as well as banks, insurance companies, management and organization headquarters, research centers, trade fair venues, private offices, and general professional practices.
- Commercial: This includes medium-sized retail, local shops, large-scale retail activities, wholesale trade, markets, and food and beverage service activities such as restaurants, bars, and pubs.
- Agricultural: This category relates to properties connected with agricultural production, farming, and forestry, cultivated fields, nurseries, forests, pastures, rural dwellings, agricultural outbuildings and greenhouses, buildings for animal husbandry, agritourism, and farm campsites.
In cases where multiple intended uses exist within a single property unit, the predominant use is assigned based on the largest usable area. Understanding these categories and the distinction between significant and non-significant changes is crucial when considering altering the use of a property and navigating the necessary permit requirements.
