Pinwell Analysis: New Urban Planning Code nconsistencies risk triggering real estate transaction delays and blockages

Law 169/2026, or the „New Urban Planning Code,” entered into force on 25 August 2026 and represents one of the biggest reforms in urban planning and construction in recent years. The new provisions bring significant simplifications to the process of obtaining construction permits, a welcome development for an increasingly complicated market, in which residential permits fell by 9.6% in the first half of the year, while the supply of new apartments in Bucharest dropped by 26%, note Gabriel Voicu and Victor Vremera, representatives of the Pinwell real estate group. At the same time, they point to a set of text-correlation issues, identified by reviewing the cross-references made between the Code’s articles.

The text of the Code contains several drafting errors, from the definition of the land occupancy percentage (POT) to the rules on land subdivision. In addition, the new version of the law also contains many contradictory paragraphs, the Pinwell analysis shows, one of them related to land subdivision, an operation that, under the New Code, can be carried out through two different instruments, with distinct procedures and competencies, which delay the process by months. In other words, in the assessment of Pinwell’s founders, a file submitted for the same plot of land could receive two different answers, depending on the local authority’s interpretation.

„If a week ago, when a landowner asked me what the sale process for their land looked like, I could give them a timeframe and clear directions. Now, I can tell them that the answer depends on the local authority’s interpretation, because the New Code points to several procedural routes, some of which require much longer processes than others. And this uncertainty slows down every transaction and, over time, is also reflected in the price”, says Victor Vremera, Co-CEO Pinwell.

This version of the Code does not affect only land, but also impacts transactions in which one of the parties needs a certificate or a permit, note Pinwell’s representatives. Given the current inconsistencies in the text, until they are resolved, delays or even blockages are expected for transactions taking place during this period. Even so, Pinwell’s founders see this only as a temporary adjustment, focusing on the beneficial long-term effects.

„The New Code now brings improvements the market has been waiting for for ten years. Looking at the bigger picture, we can see things moving toward a normality that pushes out speculative developers and investors and makes room for those with a genuine strategy, thereby making the transaction market safer for all players. However, at this moment, we can expect considerable errors and blockages, especially since the text allows for different interpretations. So, if things stay this way, we will probably reach a point where each local authority builds its own practice, and we end up working with as many interpretations as there are authorities,” says Gabriel Voicu, Co-CEO Pinwell.

Pinwell’s analysis shows that the New Urban Planning Code contains several paragraphs that are contradictory in the law’s current form. For example, Article 216 defines land subdivision as starting from three lots and makes it conditional on a certificate for drawing up a zonal urban plan, Article 256 requires the zonal plan only above three lots, yet the very next paragraph requires it for any subdivision, while Article 218 allows the detailed urban plan to cover up to 12 house lots. This is precisely why the assessment of a file for the same plot of land depends on the interpretation of the local authority where it is submitted. Another possible drafting error creates confusion about what is or is not included in the POT (land occupancy percentage) calculation.

In the view of Pinwell’s founders, the new version of the Urban Planning Code brings changes that are absolutely necessary for the real estate market, but its implementation, at least in the immediate period ahead, will also produce negative effects, which could generate blockages, price increases, or even reluctance among some investors to start new projects.