Prior declaration (DPS)

Verified 13 February 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)

You want to make small works or modifications on a building. Before you start, you must obtain authorization by filing an advance declaration of works (DP). The DP is mandatory for works that are not subject to building permits. It can be the creation of a surface, an interior and/or exterior layout or even a change of destination of your good. We guide you through the steps of the process.

You must first inquire with your town hall to know if your project is located in a protected area :

Who shall I contact

The content of the DP file, the number of copies to be provided and the processing times are different when your project is located in a secure site.

General scenario

Step-by-step approach

The application for authorization is addressed to the town hall by natural persons and moral following:

  • Owner(s) of the land or its agent
  • Acquirer of the property
  • Company authorized by the owner(s) to make the works
  • Person in undivided or its authorized representative
  • Trustee and co-owner
  • Beneficiary of a expropriation (public service, public establishment, chamber of commerce...).)

The way to build your DPS file differs depending on whether you are in Paris or in another municipality:

General scenario

You must complete your DP file by electronic means according to the measures taken by your municipality or on a paper form. Find out more on the town hall website or on site.

Who shall I contact

On the internet

You can fill out your DP request file on the internet:

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

Form

The DP file you will be compiling includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the DP form, a " attachment deposit slip » gives a full list of all the documents that the urban planning department may ask you to examine your project.

You must provide the following documents:

  • Situation Plan land for all projects (you can get it on the Geoportal website)
  • Mass plane if you create a new construction or change the volume of an existing construction
  • Cross-sectional plane if you change the profile of the land (for example, building a buried pool)
  • Plan facades and roofs if you change them.

Other parts may be requested depending on the nature of your project.

It exists multiple forms of prior declaration depending on the type of works for which you are requesting authorization:

Building, works on your house or condominium and change of destination
Small development (subdivision, camping, parking area...) and division of land)
In Paris

You must complete and send your file to the Office of Reception and Service to the user (Basu: titleContent) only by dematerialized means:

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

Depending on whether you are in Paris or another municipality, you must submit your application:

  • By dematerialized method according to the arrangements made by your municipality (find out more on the website of the town hall or on site)
  • By letter RAR: titleContent
  • By hand.

Who shall I contact

Warning  

In a municipality of more than 3,500 inhabitants, a legal person must submit its application forurban planning authorization only by electronic means.

General scenario

By internet

You can send your application via the internet:

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

The town hall issues you a receipt. When you submit your application electronically, the receipt is the electronic acknowledgement of receipt.

It contains the registration number of your file and the information telling you the date from which the works will be able to start.

Deposit in town hall or by mail

Your prior declaration can be submitted or sent by post RAR: titleContent at the town hall.

Who shall I contact

You must deposit in town hall 2 complete files (with the requested attachments).

You will attach to these complete files 2 additional copies of situation plan.

In the case of a construction, you will also need to provide 2 additional copies of the ground plane, the plan of the facades and roofs and the cross-sectional plane.

The town hall issues you a receipt. It contains the registration number of your file and the information telling you the date from which the works will be able to start.

This receipt states that, within 1 month from the filing of the file, the city council may give you a different deadline to start your works. They also have 1 month to inform you if your file is incomplete.

In Paris

You must complete and send your file to the Office of Reception and Service to the user (Basu: titleContent) only by dematerialized means:

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

When you send your request by hand or by post, the town hall issues you a receipt. When you submit your application electronically, the receipt is the electronic acknowledgement of receipt.

It contains the registration number of your file and the information telling you the date from which the works will be able to start.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Your file is complete.

The time limit for investigation is 1 month from the date of filing of the DP in town hall.

Your file is incomplete.

The town hall has 1 month to inform you that your file is incomplete. You must complete it within 3 months. If you do not provide the missing documents, your request will be considered rejected.

The investigation delay starts when your file is complete.

The receipt states that, within 1 month of the filing of the file, the town hall can notify a different time frame to start your works.

She also has 1 month to notify you if your file is incomplete.

The decision is sent to you by letter RAR: titleContent or by LRE: titleContent or an equivalent electronic process.

There are several possible cases:

  • Authorization or lack of response
  • Authorization with prescriptions
  • Refusal
  • Stay of proceedings

Warning  

Within 3 months of the date of the decision, the mayor may withdraw a decision of non-opposition if he considers that it was issued illegally.

Authorization or lack of response

In principle, when your request for works is accepted, you do not receive a response within one month. This is a decision unspoken of non-opposition by your works (agreement).

On simple request from you, the town hall must issue you a certificate of non-opposition. You thus have proof to assert your rights (obtaining a loan, taking out insurance).

Who shall I contact

Authorization with prescriptions

If the city hall has reservations about your works, it takes a arrested with requirements. You must then run the works according to these imposed rules.

The reasons for the decision and the means and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Refusal

If the city hall refuses your project, it takes a arrested of opposition.

The reasons for the decision and the means and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Stay of proceedings

In certain circumstances, the mayor can postpone his decision on your DP for up to 2 years. The mayor takes a arrested stay of proceedings which indicates its duration. Your request is neither accepted nor refused. It will be considered later.

The stay of proceedings may concern any application for authorization concerning works, structures or installations in the following cases:

  • Land that is part of the perimeter of a concerted development area (Zac: titleContent)
  • Initiation of the investigation prior to the declaration of public utility (DUP: titleContent) of an operation
  • Proposed constructions that may compromise or make more expensive the execution of public works or the carrying out of a development operation
  • Planned constructions likely to compromise or make more expensive the execution of the future local urban planning plan (MORE: titleContent)
  • Project located in a space intended to be in the heart of a national park.

The reasons for the decision and the remedies and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Within 2 months of the expiry of the period of validity of the stay of proceedings, you must confirm your request for DP. Within 2 months of your request, you will receive the mayor's decision. If you do not receive the mayor's decision within this time, your DP is considered granted.

FYI  

The owners of the land to which a stay of proceedings has been applied may give notice to the community (or the public service which took the initiative) to purchase their land. The community has 1 year to decide.

When the mayor refuses your application for urban planning authorization or takes a arrested from stay of proceedings, you can challenge his decision in 2 ways:

  • Appeals to the mayor (and/or the prefect in a municipality without MORE: titleContent, nor municipal card)
  • Appeals to the administrative judge.

These 2 appeals can be made independently one from the other or simultaneously.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Appeals to the mayor and/or the prefect

You have 1 month to make a ex gratia before the mayor from the date of notification refusal (date of deposit or postmark). If your municipality is without MORE no municipal card, within the same period, you can also submit a hierarchical redress before the prefect, in addition to the appeal to the mayor.

To make your request, you write your appeal on free paper. You hand-drop it off or send it to the town hall and/or the prefecture by post RAR: titleContent.

Who shall I contact

In the absence of a response from the mayor and/or the prefect in the 2 months which follow the date on which your appeal was sent or lodged, your request is rejected.

Appeals to the administrative judge

You have 2 months to make a litigation before the administrative judge from the date of notification the refusal of the mayor or the date of implied rejection (date of deposit or postmark as proof). This period remains 2 months, even if you have previously appealed to the mayor and/or the prefect.

To make your application, you must refer the case to the administrative judge by letter in which you justify your appeal. You don't have to hire a lawyer.

You must apply to the administrative court on which the municipality where your project is located depends.

Who shall I contact

You can do your recourse with the help of an online service:

Citizens' telemedicine (appeal to the administrative judge)

You can also drop it off by hand or send it to RAR: titleContent.

Your DP has a period of validity of 3 years.

It is expired if you have not started the works within 3 years or if, after this period, you interrupt them more than 1 year.

Where the DP concerns a change of destination or a division of land, the decision shall lapse if these operations have not taken place within 3 years.

Please note

The period of validity of authorizations issued between 1er January 2021 and May 27, 2022 is 4 years.

The period of validity of authorizations issued between 28 May 2022 and 28 May 2024 shall be 5 years. In this case, the authorization cannot be extended.

Object of the display

You must view urban planning permission on the ground.

An extract of your authorization is posted in the town hall within 8 days of its issuance and for 2 months.

Display Time

The display of the urban planning authorization on the east field mandatory. You must make this display as soon as notification of thearrested or as soon as the processing time for your file is over (certificate of non-opposition).

It must remain in place throughout the duration of the project.

Formalism of the display

You must use a rectangular panel with dimensions greater than 80 cm. It must be visible from the outside. The information on your billboard must be legible from the public highway or open spaces.

The display displays the following information:

  • Name, company name or company name of the beneficiary
  • Date and number of authorization
  • Nature of the project, land area
  • Address of the town hall where the file can be consulted
  • Name of thearchitect author of the architectural project.

Depending on the nature of the project, it shall also indicate the following:

  • Floor area authorized and the height of the construction(s), expressed in meters in relation to the natural ground, if the project provides for construction
  • Maximum number of lots planned if the project involves a subdivision
  • Total number of pitches and, if applicable, the number of pitches reserved for light recreational housing if the project involves a campground or residential recreational park
  • Surface of the building(s) to be demolished if the project involves demolition.

The posting shall also inform of the possibilities of recourse by mentioning the following information:

« Right of appeal:

The time limit for litigation is two months from the first day of a continuous period of two months of display on the ground of this panel (Article R. 600-2 of the urban planning Code).

Any administrative appeal or any contentious appeal must, on pain of inadmissibility, be notified to the author of the decision and to the beneficiary of the permit or of the decision taken on the prior declaration. This notification must be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt within fifteen clear days from the filing of the appeal (Article R. 600-1 of the urban planning Code). »

You can start your works as soon as the non-opposition to the prior declaration of works is acquired.

They may therefore start on the date of receipt of the DP non-opposition certificate or on completion of the 1-month investigation period.

The period of validity may be extended 2 times for a period of 1 year if the rules of urban planning and administrative easements have not changed.

You have to make it there request At least 2 months before the expiry of the initial period of validity of your urban planning authorization (or before the end of the period of validity of your 1re request for extension).

Example :

An authorization valid from June 5, 2025 to June 5, 2028 can be extended for 1 year if you apply before April 5, 2028.

It can be extended a 2e once if you request it 2 months before the end of the 1re extension granted.

The request must be sent on free paper, in 2 copies, by letter RAR: titleContent or dropped off at city hall.

Upon receipt of your request, the town hall has 2 months to answer you.

The extension is granted if you do not receive a response within this period.

Only the valid urban planning permissions may be extended.

If the urban planning rules and administrative easements have changed, you cannot apply for an extension of your authorization. You must file a new application for urban planning that complies with the new rules.

Warning  

Authorizations issued between 28 May 2022 and 28 May 2024 have a validity period of 5 years. In this case, they cannot be extended at the end of 5 years.

When you have finished your works, you must send to the town hall a Declaration of Completion and Compliance of works (DAACT).

The method of transmission of your DAACT differs depending on whether you are in a province or in Paris:

General scenario

You must submit your DAACT file to the town hall:

  • By dematerialized method according to the arrangements made by your municipality (find out more on the website of the town hall or on site)
  • By letter RAR: titleContent
  • By hand.
Who shall I contact

On the internet

You can complete your DAACT application on the Internet:

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

Form

You can complete your DAACT application using a form:

Declaration of completion and compliance of works

In Paris

You must submit your DAACT file to Basu: titleContent only by dematerialized means.

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

Your works can have an impact on local taxes. You can also pay the following tax and royalty:

For more information, contact the departmental center of property taxes.

Who shall I contact

You can simulate the amount of your development tax and the preventive archeology tax:

Estimate the amount of urban planning fees (development fee and preventive archeology fee)

Please note

The connection to the sewer of new or existing constructions generates the payment of the participation for the financing of the collective sanitation (Pfac: titleContent or Pac).

Protected area

Step-by-step approach

The application for authorization is addressed to the town hall by natural persons and moral following:

  • Owner(s) of the land or its agent
  • Acquirer of the property
  • Company authorized by the owner(s) to make the works
  • Person in undivided or its authorized representative
  • Trustee and co-owner
  • Beneficiary of a expropriation (public service, public establishment, chamber of commerce...).)

The way to build your DPS file differs depending on whether you are in Paris or in another municipality:

General scenario

You must complete your DP file by electronic means according to the measures taken by your municipality or on a paper form. Find out more on the town hall website or on site.

Who shall I contact

On the internet

You can fill out your DP request file on the internet:

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

Form

The DP file you will be compiling includes the form and the documents to be provided.

In the DP form, a " attachment deposit slip » gives a full list of all the documents that the urban planning department may ask you to examine your project.

You must provide the following documents:

  • Situation Plan land for all projects (you can get it on the Geoportal website)
  • Mass plane if you create a new construction or change the volume of an existing construction
  • Cross-sectional plane if you change the profile of the land (for example, building a buried pool)
  • Plan facades and roofs if you change them.

Other parts may be requested depending on the nature of your project.

It exists multiple forms of prior declaration depending on the type of works for which you are requesting authorization:

Building, works on your house or condominium and change of destination
Small development (subdivision, camping, parking area...) and division of land)
In Paris

You must complete and send your file to the Office of Reception and Service to the user (Basu: titleContent) only by dematerialized means:

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

Depending on whether you are in Paris or another municipality, you must submit your application:

  • By dematerialized method according to the arrangements made by your municipality (find out more on the website of the town hall or on site)
  • By letter RAR: titleContent
  • By hand.

Who shall I contact

Warning  

In a municipality of more than 3,500 inhabitants, a legal person must submit its application forurban planning authorization only by electronic means.

General scenario

By internet

You can send your application via the internet:

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

The town hall issues you a receipt. When you submit your application electronically, the receipt is the electronic acknowledgement of receipt.

It contains the registration number of your file and the information telling you the date from which the works will be able to start.

Deposit in town hall or by mail

Your prior declaration can be submitted or sent by post RAR: titleContent at the town hall.

Who shall I contact

Depending on the situation of the land on which your project is located, you must submit a number of copies of the complete file (with the required attachments):

  • Project located within the perimeter of a remarkable heritage site, to surroundings of historical monuments, in a classified site, registered site or nature reserve: 3 copies
  • Project located in a heart of national park : 4 copies
  • Project submitted to commercial exploitation authorization: 4 copies (including 1 on a dematerialized medium).

You will attach to these complete files 2 additional copies of situation plan.

In the case of a construction, you will also need to provide 2 additional copies of the ground plane, the plan of the facades and roofs and the cross-sectional plane.

In Paris

You must complete and send your file to the Office of Reception and Service to the user (Basu: titleContent) only by dematerialized means:

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

When you send your request by hand or by post, the town hall issues you a receipt. When you submit your application electronically, the receipt is the electronic acknowledgement of receipt.

It contains the registration number of your file and the information telling you the date from which the works will be able to start.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Your file is complete.

Within one month of the filing of your DP, the urban planning department will notified by letter RAR: titleContent one 2-month lead time in general.

If you have agreed in your prior declaration to receive the instructor's letters to an e-mail address, the notification may be sent to you by e-mail.

Your file is incomplete

The town hall has 1 month to inform you that your file is incomplete. You must complete it within 3 months. If you do not provide the missing documents, your request will be considered rejected.

The investigation delay starts when your file is complete.

The receipt states that, within 1 month from the filing of the file, the city council may give you a different deadline to start your works.

She also has 1 month to notify you if your file is incomplete.

The decision is sent to you by letter RAR: titleContent or by LRE: titleContent or an equivalent electronic process.

There are several possible cases:

  • Authorization or lack of response
  • Authorization with prescriptions
  • Refusal
  • Stay of proceedings

Warning  

Within 3 months of the date of the decision, the mayor may withdraw a non-opposition decision if he considers that it was issued illegally.

Authorization or lack of response

In principle, when your request for works is accepted, you do not receive a response within 2 months. This is a decision unspoken of non-opposition by your works (agreement).

On simple request from you, the town hall must issue you a certificate of non-opposition. You thus have proof to assert your rights (obtaining a loan, taking out insurance).

Who shall I contact

Warning  

In certain specific cases, the absence of a written decision from the town hall, or the Basu: titleContent for Paris, means refusal of your request. For example, if your project is in a classified site, in the heart of a national park, if your project is refused by the government or concerns a building listed as a historic monument.

Authorization with prescriptions

If the city hall has reservations about your works, it takes a arrested with requirements. You must then run the works according to these imposed rules.

The reasons for the decision and the means and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Refusal

If the city hall refuses your project, it takes a arrested of opposition.

The reasons for the decision and the means and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Stay of proceedings

In certain circumstances, the mayor can postpone his decision on your DP for up to 2 years. The mayor takes a arrested stay of proceedings which indicates its duration. Your request is neither accepted nor refused. It will be considered later.

The stay of proceedings may concern any application for authorization concerning works, structures or installations in the following cases:

  • Land that is part of the perimeter of a concerted development area (Zac: titleContent)
  • Initiation of the investigation prior to the declaration of public utility (DUP: titleContent) of an operation
  • Proposed constructions that may compromise or make more expensive the execution of public works or the carrying out of a development operation
  • Planned constructions likely to compromise or make more expensive the execution of the future local urban planning plan (MORE: titleContent)
  • Project located in a space intended to be in the heart of a national park.

The reasons for the decision and the remedies and time limits for appeal are specified in the order.

Within 2 months of the expiry of the period of validity of the stay of proceedings, you must confirm your request for DP. Within 2 months of your request, you will receive the mayor's decision. If you do not receive the mayor's decision within this time, your DP is considered granted.

FYI  

The owners of the land to which a stay of proceedings has been applied may give notice to the community (or the public service which took the initiative) to purchase their land. The community has 1 year to decide.

When the mayor refuses your application for urban planning authorization or takes a arrested from stay of proceedings, you can challenge his decision in 2 ways:

  • Appeals to the mayor (and/or the prefect in a municipality without MORE: titleContent, nor municipal card)
  • Appeals to the administrative judge.

These 2 appeals can be made independently one from the other or simultaneously.

Warning  

If you are in a remarkable heritage site or to approaches to a historic monument and if the refusal of authorization is motivated by an unfavorable opinion of theABF: titleContent, you have to make a mandatory prior administrative appeal (Rapo). It must be made to the regional prefect before your appeal before the administrative judge.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Appeals to the mayor and/or the prefect

You have 1 month to make a ex gratia before the mayor from the date of notification refusal (date of deposit or postmark). If your municipality is without MORE no municipal card, within the same period, you can also submit a hierarchical redress before the prefect, in addition to the appeal to the mayor.

To make your request, you write your appeal on free paper. You hand-drop it off or send it to the town hall and/or the prefecture by post RAR: titleContent.

Who shall I contact

In the absence of a response from the mayor and/or the prefect in the 2 months which follow the date on which your appeal was sent or lodged, your request is rejected.

Appeals to the administrative judge

You have 2 months to make a litigation before the administrative judge from the date of notification the refusal of the mayor or the date of implied rejection (date of deposit or postmark as proof). This period remains 2 months, even if you have previously appealed to the mayor and/or the prefect.

To make your application, you must refer the case to the administrative judge by letter in which you justify your appeal. You don't have to hire a lawyer.

You must apply to the administrative court on which the municipality where your project is located depends.

Who shall I contact

You can do your recourse with the help of an online service:

Citizens' telemedicine (appeal to the administrative judge)

You can also drop it off by hand or send it to RAR: titleContent.

Your DP has a period of validity of 3 years.

It is expired if you have not started the works within 3 years or if, after this period, you interrupt them more than 1 year.

Where the DP concerns a change of destination or a division of land, the decision shall lapse if these operations have not taken place within 3 years.

Please note

The period of validity of authorizations issued between 1er January 2021 and May 27, 2022 is 4 years.

The period of validity of authorizations issued between 28 May 2022 and 28 May 2024 shall be 5 years. In this case, the authorization cannot be extended.

Object of the display

You must view urban planning permission on the ground.

An extract of your authorization is posted in the town hall within 8 days of its issuance and for 2 months.

Display Time

The display of the urban planning authorization on the east field mandatory. You must make this display as soon as notification of thearrested or as soon as the processing time for your file is over (certificate of non-opposition).

It must remain in place throughout the duration of the project.

Formalism of the display

You must use a rectangular panel with dimensions greater than 80 cm. It must be visible from the outside. The information on your billboard must be legible from the public highway or open spaces.

The display displays the following information:

  • Name, company name or company name of the beneficiary
  • Date and number of authorization
  • Nature of the project, land area
  • Address of the town hall where the file can be consulted
  • Name of thearchitect author of the architectural project.

Depending on the nature of the project, it shall also indicate the following:

  • Floor area authorized and the height of the construction(s), expressed in meters in relation to the natural ground, if the project provides for construction
  • Maximum number of lots planned if the project involves a subdivision
  • Total number of pitches and, if applicable, the number of pitches reserved for light recreational housing if the project involves a campground or residential recreational park
  • Surface of the building(s) to be demolished if the project involves demolition.

The posting shall also inform of the possibilities of recourse by mentioning the following information:

« Right of appeal:

The time limit for litigation is two months from the first day of a continuous period of two months of display on the ground of this panel (Article R. 600-2 of the urban planning Code).

Any administrative appeal or any contentious appeal must, on pain of inadmissibility, be notified to the author of the decision and to the beneficiary of the permit or of the decision taken on the prior declaration. This notification must be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt within fifteen clear days from the filing of the appeal (Article R. 600-1 of the urban planning Code). »

You can start your works as soon as the non-opposition to the prior declaration of works is acquired. They can therefore start on the date of receipt of the DP non-opposition certificate or on completion of the 2-month investigation period.

The period of validity may be extended 2 times for a period of 1 year if the rules of urban planning and administrative easements have not changed.

You have to make it there request at least 2 months before the expiry of the initial period of validity of your urban planning authorization (or before the end of the period of validity of your 1re request for extension).

Example :

An authorization valid from June 5, 2025 to June 5, 2028 can be extended for 1 year if you apply before April 5, 2028.

It can be extended a 2e once if you request it 2 months before the end of the 1re extension granted.

The request must be sent on free paper, in 2 copies, by letter RAR: titleContent or dropped off at city hall.

Upon receipt of your request, the town hall has 2 months to answer you.

The extension is granted if you do not receive a response within this period.

Only the valid urban planning permissions may be extended.

If the urban planning rules and administrative easements have changed, you cannot apply for an extension of your authorization. You must file a new application for urban planning that complies with the new rules.

Warning  

Authorizations issued between 28 May 2022 and 28 May 2024 have a validity period of 5 years. In this case, they cannot be extended at the end of 5 years.

When you have finished your works, you must send to the town hall a Declaration of Completion and Compliance of works (DAACT).

The method of transmission of your DAACT differs depending on whether you are in a province or in Paris:

General scenario

You must submit your DAACT file to the town hall:

  • By dematerialized method according to the arrangements made by your municipality (find out more on the website of the town hall or on site)
  • By letter RAR: titleContent
  • By hand.
Who shall I contact

On the internet

You can complete your DAACT application on the Internet:

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

Form

You can complete your DAACT application using a form:

Declaration of completion and compliance of works

In Paris

You must submit your DAACT file to Basu: titleContent only by dematerialized means.

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

Your works can have an impact on local taxes. You can also pay the following tax and royalty:

For more information, contact the departmental center of property taxes.

Who shall I contact

You can simulate the amount of your development tax and the preventive archeology tax:

Estimate the amount of urban planning fees (development fee and preventive archeology fee)

Please note

The connection to the sewer of new or existing constructions generates the payment of the participation for the financing of the collective sanitation (Pfac: titleContent or Pac).

Assistance with your urban planning permission application

Reception and user service office (Basu) in Paris: electronic one-stop shop

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region