Unauthorised or non-compliant construction: risks, inspections and regularisation

What the law treats as an offence

Offences are set out in Title IV of Law No. 12-90 on urban planning, entirely rewritten by Law No. 66-12 on the control and punishment of offences in urban planning and construction (القانون رقم 66.12 المتعلق بمراقبة وزجر المخالفات في مجال التعمير والبناء), enacted by Dahir No. 1-16-124 of 25 August 2016 and published in Official Bulletin No. 6501 of 19 September 2016. Article 64 covers in particular carrying out a building, or starting to carry it out:

• without prior authorisation (building permit, رخصة البناء);
• without complying with the plans and documents on which the permit was granted: different height, number of floors, footprint, position, floor area or use;
• in a zone where building is prohibited by the urban planning documents;
• on public or private land belonging to the State or local authorities, or on collective land, without the authorisation of the body that manages it.

Article 64 also covers using a building without an occupancy permit (رخصة السكن) or certificate of conformity, and failing to keep a site logbook. Article 40 states that a permit is required to alter an existing building on the elements covered by the regulations, and for any change to a façade. An extension, an extra storey or a roofed terrace is therefore not just "work": it needs authorisation.

Dividing land falls under another law. Creating a subdivision or housing group without authorisation, or carrying out an unlawful plot division, are offences under Law No. 25-90, also amended by Law No. 66-12 and then by Law No. 34-21 (Official Bulletin No. 7533 of 10 August 2026). See the guide Creating a subdivision.

Inspection: report, stop order, demolition

Who records offences. Offences are recorded by criminal investigation officers and by urban planning inspectors (مراقبو التعمير) reporting to the wali, the governor or the administration, who hold the status of criminal investigation officer (Article 65). The inspector acts on his own initiative, at the request of the local authority, the president of the municipality or the director of the urban planning agency, or on a complaint from any person (Article 66). Inside occupied premises, a written authorisation from the public prosecutor is required.

Report. The original report is sent to the public prosecutor within a maximum of three days, with the supporting documents; a copy goes to the local authority, the president of the municipality, the director of the urban planning agency and the offender (Article 66).

Stop order. If work is in progress, the inspector or the criminal investigation officer immediately orders the work to stop (Article 67). If the order is ignored, the inspector may seize equipment and materials, close the site and seal it. The offender may ask the court to reopen the site.

Compliance or demolition. For an offence that can be remedied because it is not a serious breach, the inspector orders it to be ended within 10 days to one month. Failing that, the local administrative authority orders demolition; if the offender does not demolish within the time set, an administrative committee chaired by the wali or the governor does so within 48 hours, at the offender's expense (Article 68). This demolition procedure applies directly to a building without a permit, or one that departs from its permit in height, an added floor, position, floor area, structural stability or use (Article 70). On State or local-authority land, collective land or in a non-buildable zone, the local authority demolishes of its own motion.

Demolition does not end the prosecution (Article 69). And on conviction, the court must order demolition and restoration at the offender's expense (Article 80-1).

Law No. 64-23 (Official Bulletin No. 7533 of 10 August 2026) creates regional urban planning and housing agencies, tasked among other things with proposing the appointment of urban planning inspectors. They will replace the urban planning agencies in their area once their director general is appointed and their board of directors has met. Until then, the urban planning agency remains the body you deal with.

Fines and penalties: what the text says

The amounts below are taken from the Arabic text of Law No. 66-12 published in Official Bulletin No. 6501. The court sets the penalty between the minimum and the maximum.

• Building without a permit, or in a zone where building is prohibited: fine of 10,000 to 100,000 dirhams; the same fine for altering an existing building without a permit (Article 71).
• Building contrary to the permit (height, volumes, position, floor area, use): 10,000 to 50,000 dirhams. Adding one or more floors: one to three months' imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 dirhams, or either penalty (Article 72).
• Altering a façade without authorisation: 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams (Article 73).
• Occupying a building oneself without an occupancy permit or certificate of conformity: 2,000 to 10,000 dirhams; making it available to others (renting it out, for example): 10,000 to 100,000 dirhams (Article 75).
• Building on land belonging to the State, local authorities or on collective land without authorisation: 100,000 to 200,000 dirhams (Article 77).
• Subdivision or housing group without authorisation, or unlawful plot division: 100,000 to 5,000,000 dirhams (Article 65 of Law No. 25-90).

Repeat offences. A new offence of building without a permit within a year of a final conviction is punishable by one to three months' imprisonment (Article 71), and the penalties in the chapter are doubled for repeat offences (Article 80). Fines are cumulative where there are several acts (Article 79).

Professionals. Article 78 treats as accomplices, liable to the same penalties, the project owner, the contractor, the architect, the specialist engineer and the surveying engineer who failed to report the offence within a short time of becoming aware of it, as well as those who gave the orders or facilitated the building. The law sets this deadline in hours: it is very short. A conscientious professional therefore refuses to work on an unauthorised site.

Regularisation: what actually exists in 2026

The principle in the law. Since Law No. 66-12, Article 40 of Law No. 12-90 allows the president of the municipal council, at the request of the person concerned, to issue a regularisation permit (رخصة التسوية) for a non-compliant building, with the approval of the urban planning agency, under a procedure set by regulation. This permit takes the place of the occupancy permit or certificate of conformity (Article 55).

The 2019 decree. Decree No. 2-18-475 of 12 June 2019 (Official Bulletin No. 6793 of 8 July 2019) organises the procedure. It covers buildings erected without a permit and those erected without complying with the permit, in zones where a permit is mandatory (Article 5). The permit is issued by the president of the municipality, with the approval of the urban planning agency, within a maximum of sixty days of filing (Article 8), and only if the building meets safety, hygiene, traffic and appearance rules, as well as the height, position, floor area and use rules of the planning documents, in a zone intended for urban development (Article 9). Otherwise, a building permit must first be obtained for the necessary changes, the work carried out, and then the regularisation permit obtained. Buildings in an irregular subdivision can only be regularised after that subdivision has been restructured (Article 10).

A limited window, now closed. The decree set a two-year period for filing applications (Article 6) and made them inadmissible if an offence report had been drawn up (Article 7). Decree No. 2-23-103 of 8 May 2023 (Official Bulletin No. 7194 of 11 May 2023), in force on publication, opened a new two-year period and repealed Article 7. On our reading, that period expired in May 2025. As of 29 October 2026, we found no new decree reopening applications, either in the Official Bulletin or in the official communications we consulted. Before taking any step, ask the municipality or the urban planning agency whether a new window has been opened.

What remains possible. Outside that window, the normal route is to bring the building into compliance: obtain a building permit (often called an "amending" permit) to adapt the building to the rules, which may mean demolishing the part that cannot be authorised (an extra floor, an encroachment on a setback), then apply for the occupancy permit. For an irregular neighbourhood, the restructuring provided for in Law No. 25-90 (Articles 49 and 50) is a public decision, not an individual application.

The ministry's Good Practice Guide (April 2024) lists what cannot be regularised: buildings in zones not open to urban development, on State or local-authority land, on easements (railways, motorways, flood zones, high- or medium-voltage lines), encroaching on third parties or the public domain, with no courtyard at all, lacking safety or hygiene conditions, with more floors than permitted, or located in an irregular subdivision or a fabric that has not been restructured.

Practical consequences: living in, renting, selling, registering

Beyond prosecution, an irregular building blocks the next stages in the property's life:

• The occupancy permit. It is issued only after checking that the building complies with the permit and the plans (Article 55). A non-compliant building does not obtain it until it is brought into compliance or regularised, and occupying it is itself an offence.
• Utility connections. Water and electricity network operators in practice ask for planning documents for a new connection; check with your city's distributor which documents are required.
• Co-ownership and titles. Dividing a building into titled flats requires an authorised building; a floor built without a permit can prevent or delay the creation of the titles (see Co-ownership).
• Updating the land title. Bringing the title plan into line with the building relies on a technical file prepared by a surveying engineer; in practice the land registry asks for the occupancy permit (see Building permit).
• Sale and mortgage. Notaries, adoul and banks generally ask for the building permit and the occupancy permit. An irregular property is harder to sell, often without bank financing, and the buyer takes on a building exposed to demolition.

An inheritance or a sale does not make the non-compliance disappear: the building remains what it is. Who is criminally liable for the facts (the original builder, the new owner, the occupant) is a question for the public prosecutor and the court; for a real case, consult a lawyer.

Your building does not comply: what should you do?

Do not start any new work until the situation is clear: continuing an unauthorised site aggravates the offence. Proceed in this order:

1. Gather the documents: land title or title deed, building permit and plans stamped "ne varietur" if they exist, occupancy permit, any offence report or stop order.
2. Have a survey of the existing building prepared by a surveying engineer: plan of the plot and its boundaries, building footprint, setbacks, heights and levels. It is the objective basis for comparison with the permit (see Building survey).
3. Consult an architect registered with the Order: he compares what exists with the rules of the development plan, says what can be authorised, designs the changes and prepares the file. The planning information note and the buildable area tool help pin down the rules (see also Development plan and zoning).
4. File the application through the architect on the Rokhas platform (rokhas.ma), with the municipality, which submits it to the urban planning agency: an amending building permit, or a regularisation permit if a window is open.
5. Carry out the authorised work, including any required demolition, then apply for the occupancy permit.
6. Update the land title if the building has changed: technical file by the surveyor, checked by the cadastre.

If an offence report has already been drawn up, the matter is in the hands of the public prosecutor: get assistance from a lawyer. The surveyor describes what exists, the architect designs and files, the municipality and the urban planning agency decide, and the court rules on prosecution. These professionals' fees are covered in the guide Fees.

Before buying a built property: what to check

A common case in Fez: a house authorised as ground plus one floor, which over the years has become ground plus three, put up for sale by heirs. Before signing:

• ask for the building permit, the approved plans and the occupancy permit, and count the actual floors against the plans;
• check that the name and the property reference match a recent property certificate and the land title (see Property certificate and online tracking via Mohafadati);
• have a surveyor compare the actual area and footprint with the title plan and the approved plans;
• ask the municipality whether an offence report or a demolition order concerns the building;
• for a plot or a house in a subdivision, require the subdivision's provisional acceptance report;
• have the notary or adel record in the deed the planning documents handed over by the seller.

For bare land, the full list is in the guide Checking land before buying it. Ellipsoide can prepare the survey of the existing building and the topographic plan; the planning decision, the deed and legal advice are matters for other professionals.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Law No. 66-12 on the control and punishment of offences in urban planning and construction, Dahir No. 1-16-124 of 25 August 2016 (Official Bulletin No. 6501 of 19 September 2016, Arabic edition) — Official Bulletin (copy hosted by the Oujda urban planning agency)
• Law No. 12-90 on urban planning (consolidated version) — General Secretariat of the Government
• Decree No. 2-18-475 of 12 June 2019 setting the procedures for granting repair, regularisation and demolition permits (Official Bulletin No. 6793 of 8 July 2019) — Official Bulletin (copy hosted by the Oujda urban planning agency)
• Decree No. 2-23-103 of 8 May 2023 on granting regularisation permits for non-compliant buildings (Official Bulletin No. 7194 of 11 May 2023) — Official Bulletin (copy hosted by the Oujda urban planning agency)
• Good Practice Guide: regularisation of non-compliant buildings (April 2024, French version) — Ministry of National Territorial Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy (copy published on an urban planning agency website, auks.ma)
• Official Bulletin No. 7533 of 10 August 2026 (Arabic edition): Law No. 34-21 amending Law No. 25-90 and Law No. 64-23 creating the regional urban planning and housing agencies — General Secretariat of the Government (Official Bulletin)
• Rokhas, platform for filing and tracking planning applications — Rokhas

This guide provides general information, up to date as of the date shown. It does not replace the official texts or a professional review of your file. Ask us about your situation.