The occupancy permit (permis d’habiter) and certificate of conformity

The end of the site is not the end of the procedure. Until the occupancy permit is issued, the building is legally unfinished: final network connections, sale and, strictly, moving in depend on it. Many owners forget it because nobody asks for it at the time; they discover it when they sell. This guide describes the procedure under the general building regulation, its deadlines, the faster route through the architect’s certificate, and the errors that block it. It extends the guide on the building permit.

Occupancy permit or certificate of conformity: which applies to you?

The general building regulation’s purpose includes setting “the form and conditions of filing, examination of applications and issuance of occupancy permits and certificates of conformity” (article 1), both provided for in article 55 of Law 12-90 and both covered by the official templates annexed to the regulation. The occupancy permit authorises the holder “to occupy the building covered by the building permit”; the certificate of conformity authorises him “to use” it. The distinction therefore follows the use: housing on one side, shop, offices, workshop or facility on the other. A mixed-use building may need both.

Why is it indispensable?

The template of the building-permit decision annexed to the regulation requires the holder “to send the commune or the one-stop shop for planning permits a request containing a declaration of completion of works with a view to obtaining the occupancy permit or the certificate of conformity” and states: “it is strictly prohibited to use the buildings erected before obtaining the above permit or certificate”. The same template prohibits “connecting the building to the various networks without prior authorisations from the services concerned”, authorisations that in practice rest on the regular completion of works.

For housing groups the regulation is even more explicit: “no sale or letting of a building may take place before the prior obtaining of the occupancy permit or the certificate of conformity”. Médias24 sums up the stake for a private owner: the occupancy permit “certifies that the permit and all standards have been respected, thereby allowing lawful occupation of the building”. Without it, the buyer of an off-plan house or the future buyer of your villa has no official guarantee of conformity.

What does the application look like?

Article 41 of the regulation provides that the occupancy permit and the certificate of conformity “are issued by the president of the communal council, on the applicant’s request”, and that the file is filed “against a numbered, dated receipt at the registry of the commune concerned or, where applicable, the one-stop shop for planning permits”. It comprises “a request addressed by the applicant to the president of the communal council containing a declaration of completion of works” and “the certificate of conformity of works issued by the competent telecommunications services, in the cases provided for by the laws and regulations in force”.

The completion declaration template, in annex 8, is submitted in three copies. It identifies the declarant, the architect, the specialist engineer and the contractor, describes the works and their location, and contains the following declaration: the works “have been completed since … and the works carried out conform to the authorised plans and to the indications of the building permit and to the rules of the art in force”. The architect’s and engineer’s names are required “where recourse to this professional is compulsory”. The declaration binds its author: a false declaration of conformity exposes him to the sanctions of Law 66-12.

What is the final inspection, and who carries it out?

Both documents “are drawn up after the final inspection of works”, which “consists in verifying the conformity of the works carried out with the architectural and technical plans and the indications of the building permit” (article 42). The inspection committee is “composed of the representatives of the prefecture or province [and] the commune”, and the president may add, in an advisory capacity, “any person whose opinion is considered useful”. The comparison is made with the plans bearing the “ne varietur” stamp, the very ones the permit required you to keep on site.

What is checked, concretely: siting and setbacks, heights and number of levels, areas, façades and openings, the use of rooms. Any departure from the authorised plans should have been covered by an amending permit before the end of works; the permit template says so (“any change to the authorised project … must be the subject of a new permit application”), and Médias24 insists: “it is indispensable to file an amending permit before the end of works”.

What are the deadlines?

1. Filing the completion declaration. Against a numbered, dated receipt, at the commune or the one-stop shop (article 41).
2. Notification of the inspection date. Within no more than three working days from filing (article 43).
3. Convening the committee. Sent by the president to the members within no more than fifteen working days from filing (article 43).
4. Minutes. Drawn up on the annex 7 template and submitted to the president within two working days of the visit (article 44).
5. Decision. Taken by the president within the same two working days from receipt of the minutes (article 44); the decision follows the annex 8 template.

Added up, these deadlines put the decision under one working month from filing. As for the building permit, article 49 charges the governors with ensuring they are respected. Built Morocco publishes no observed timeline until its Baromètre has collected data; the gaps seen in practice come mostly from inspections that reveal non-conformities and send the file back towards an amending permit or a regularisation.

When does the architect’s certificate replace the inspection?

Article 45 opens a shorter route: “where the construction works were directed by an architect, the final inspection may be replaced by a certificate from the architect who directed the works, certifying the conformity of the works carried out with the architectural plans and the indications of the permit”. The certificate “is attached to the application file” and follows the annex 8 template. The occupancy-permit template indeed provides for both possible bases: “having regard to the minutes of the inspection committee” or “having regard to the certificate of the architect who directed the works”.

Two points. The text says “may”, not “must”: the commune keeps the option of carrying out the inspection. And the certificate engages the architect’s professional liability, so he will sign it only if the building actually conforms to the plans; that is one reason to entrust site direction to the architect who designed the project, not only the design.

What about an older building that never had an occupancy permit?

Many houses built in the 1980s and 1990s were lived in without anyone requesting the occupancy permit, because network connections were then made without it. At the sale the notary asks for it, and the heirs discover it is missing. Three routes, depending on the case: if the building permit exists and the house conforms to it, filing a completion declaration, even late, and requesting the inspection is enough; if the permit exists but the house departs from it, the route is an amending permit or regularisation where the zone regulation allows it; if there never was a permit, the regularisation procedure created by Law 66-12 is the only framework, subject to the agreement of the urban agency and the commune president and to the building’s conformity with the rules in force. Start by asking the commune for a copy of the old permit file from its archives: it is often kept there even when the owner has lost it.

What blocks the occupancy permit?

• Departures from the “ne varietur” plans: an added level, a moved opening, a reduced setback, a covered terrace. Each needed an amending permit before the end of works.
• Lapsed permit: if foundations did not start within the year after issuance, the permit is void, and what was built afterwards was built without authorisation.
• Incomplete works: the completion declaration covers a finished building; external finishes and the fences shown on the plans are part of it.
• Connections made without the network operators’ authorisation, contrary to the permit.
• Unpaid taxes and charges, whose clearance conditions issuance.
• Building without a permit: the occupancy permit presupposes a building permit; an unauthorised building falls under the regularisation procedure created by Law 66-12, where it is possible.

What do you do once the occupancy permit is obtained?

The occupancy permit is the document that closes the building’s administrative file. Keep it with the building-permit decision, the “ne varietur” plans, the inspection minutes or the architect’s certificate, and the tax receipts. Network operators require it for final subscriptions; notaries ask for it at sale; and it remains, for any future buyer, the only official proof that the house was built as it was authorised.