Objecting to an At-Risk Building Determination: The Fifteen-Day Deadline and the Grounds an Objection Can Actually Rely On

Objecting to an at-risk building determination is the shortest and most frequently missed stage of the urban transformation process. When most owners learn their building has been found to be at risk, they either never engage with the process at all — thinking "the building is old anyway, it must be true" — or hold back because they believe objecting means blocking the transformation. In fact, an objection does not exist to block transformation; it exists to make sure the process rests on a sound technical basis, and once missed, the path that remains is far harder, far longer and far more costly. The decision that follows the determination, and the entire majority-decision and contract stages, are covered separately under what co-owners need to know about urban transformation.

Who can request the determination?

Under Law No. 6306, a joint decision of the owners is not required for an at-risk building determination. Any single owner in the building may, on their own, apply to one of the institutions licensed by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change to have the determination carried out. In practice, this means that in most apartment buildings the process starts without the other owners' knowledge. A single person wanting transformation in a building is enough for the process to actually get under way.

If the building is found to be at risk, the risk notation is reported to the relevant land registry office within ten working days at the latest and entered in the declarations section of the title deed. Along with this notation, the land registry office notifies the owners and those holding rights in rem over the property. The objection period also starts running from this notification.

How long is the objection period and where is it filed?

An objection to the at-risk building determination must be filed, within fifteen days of the date of notification, by petition to the Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change for the location of the building in question. Objections are examined by a technical committee made up of members appointed from universities and relevant institutions, and it is the committee's decision that determines the outcome.

This fifteen-day period is, in practice, the deadline that causes the most loss of rights. Where notice has been served at the entrance of the apartment building, where the owner does not reside at the address, or where notice has been served on a family member but never passed on to the owner, the period may already be running without the owner realising it. If transformation is already being discussed in relation to a building, the safest way to avoid missing the deadline is to check the declarations section of your title deed before any notice actually reaches you.

When is an objection meaningful, and when is it a waste of time?

An at-risk building determination is the technical basis of an administrative act that produces legal consequences. The success of an objection therefore has nothing to do with whether the building is old, and everything to do with whether the report is technically sound. In practice, an objection tends to succeed where the data underlying the report was not gathered in accordance with proper procedure: an insufficient number of concrete samples, or samples taken from the wrong locations; incomplete assessment of reinforcement; soil data that does not actually belong to the building; incorrect regulations or assumptions used in the calculations; or a report based on the building's condition as designed rather than its actual load-bearing system as built.

Another important consideration is the possibility of reinforcement. The Implementation Regulation allows owners to opt for a reinforcement decision where the risk can be eliminated by strengthening the building and the required conditions are met. In a building where demolition is not the only option, a report that never considered this possibility at all provides solid ground for an objection.

By contrast, reasons such as "I couldn't reach an agreement with my neighbours," "the contractor's offer is too low," or "I'm not in a position to move right now" are not matters an objection to the at-risk building determination can address. These belong to a later stage — the decision-making and contract stage — and raising them at the objection stage will neither succeed nor achieve anything beyond using up the very period that should be spent on something else.

What happens if the objection is rejected?

If the technical committee rejects the objection, the at-risk building determination becomes final. From this point, it is possible to bring an annulment action in the administrative courts against the determination, but there are two practical difficulties. First, administrative court proceedings move far more slowly than the transformation timetable — the building may already have been demolished before the case is concluded. Second, a stay-of-execution order is not granted in every case, and where it is not, winning the case can, in practice, achieve nothing. For this reason, the real fight in the at-risk building process takes place at the administrative stage; litigation should not be relied upon as a remedy for a missed administrative step.

Once the determination becomes final, owners are given a period — not exceeding ninety days — within which to have the building demolished. If demolition is not carried out within this period, the building is demolished, or caused to be demolished, by the Administration, and the demolition costs are recovered from the owners, in proportion to their shares, under Law No. 6183. If the eviction is obstructed, closed areas may be forcibly opened for eviction through law enforcement with the written authorisation of the local administrative authority. The process does not end with the completion of the demolition; the owners' decision-making stage then begins, at which point the simple-majority rule and the sale of the land share of an owner who does not join the decision come into play.

Getting the process right from the start

An at-risk building determination is the moment transformation begins for a building, and from that moment on every deadline runs against the owner. The first thing to do, as soon as you learn of the determination, is to request and examine the title deed record and the report, establish exactly when the fifteen-day period began, and, if you intend to object, ground your reasons in a solid technical basis. A one-page objection petition made up of general statements, with no basis in a deficiency in the report, achieves nothing beyond using up the period. The whole process, from determination through to the contract with the contractor, is covered separately in the stages a co-owner will encounter step by step.

This article has been prepared for general informational purposes. At-risk building determination and objection processes vary according to the technical condition of the building and the specific facts of the case; nothing here constitutes legal opinion or advice. The legislation changes frequently and the information in this article is current as of the date of publication.