The difference between Act 16, Practical completion certificate with rights of use and Certificate of commissioning

If you are not a professional in construction, you most probably think the terms Act 16, Practical completion certificate with rights of use and Certificate of commissioning are interchangeable, i.e. these are different names for the same document.

In practice they do not mean exactly the same thing; we shall try below to outline in brief the difference between these documents.

In compliance with Art. 137 of the Territory Planning Law (TPL), the buildings under construction in Republic of Bulgaria are grouped in six categories depending on their characteristics, significance, complexity and risks of accidents in service or in operation.

The documents accompanying the construction of residential buildings from all categories are identical until the issuing of the Certificate for establishing the acceptability of the building (Act 15). After this Act, however, the documents of the different categories differ and the construction is subject to permission or registration regimes.

All residential buildings from first to third category are subject to permission regime and after Act 15 they are issued the following documents:

• § Protocol establishing that the building is habitable (Act 16);
• § Practical completion certificate with rights of use.

All residential buildings from fourth to sixth category belong to the registration regime and after Act 15 they need only Certificate of registration and commissioning.

Among the Planex buildings, below are some examples of different categories according to the total built-up floor area, the complexity of the construction implementation and the multi-functionality of the buildings:

• 1^st category: Viva 4
• 2^nd category: Viva 2
• 3^rd category: Viva 1, Viva 3, Alfa, Gama
• 4^th category: Euro
• 5^th category: Aquarelle 1, Aquarelle 2, Aquarelle 3, Boutique Residence

The category of each building is described in the Building permit issued for it.

If there is no Practical completion certificate with rights of use and a respective Certificate of commissioning, this is an indication that there is a definite problem in the building’s documentation, for example discrepancy between the approved projects and the actual implementation of the construction, building without a preliminary approved project or illegal construction. Information if a building has a Practical completion certificate with rights of use is available upon request at the Regional Directorate of National and Building Control or from the seller of the building.