Since October 2014, building registers have had to be kept for new buildings, conversions and extensions to buildings with more than 2 main storeys in Vienna. With the latest amendment to the Vienna Building Code, this obligation has now also been extended to old buildings.
This latest amendment to the Vienna Building Code (13 December 2023) stipulated that the city council must set up the so-called “building database” by 1 July 2024 at the latest (Section 128 c).
Data and documents to be transmitted
The owners of a building for which a so-called building register has been created must submit the following data and documents to the authority via the portal of the building register database published by the authority on the Internet:
1. date of creation of the building logbook
2. electronically signed confirmation of creation by the creator (§ 128a para. 2)
3. date of the first review pursuant to Section 128a (3)
4. Confirmation of the initial inspection of the building signed by the inspector (§ 128a Para. 3).
What is the building logbook?
Since the amendment to the Vienna Building Code, owners of existing buildings are now also obliged to draw up a building register.
For existing buildings, such a building register must be created by the following deadlines and registered in the building register database from 1 July 2024
1. by 31.12.2027 for buildings constructed before 1.1.1919,
2. by 31 Dec. 2030 for all buildings constructed between 1 Jan. 1919 and 1 Jan. 1945
Contents of the building register
In accordance with § 128 a, the building register must contain
1. the building permits and notices of completion or authorisations for use relating to the building;
2. the designation of the building components (Para. 1) that are to be subject to regular inspection;
3. the time of the first inspection and the intervals at which the inspections are to be carried out subsequently;
4. the requirements that the persons carrying out the inspections must fulfil in each case;
5. the results of the inspections carried out, with the exception of those inspections that must be carried out for components in accordance with other federal or provincial regulations;
6. a current list of building defects and a plan for their rectification, if such defects were identified in the course of an inspection;
7. documentation of the measures or changes in accordance with § 118 para. 3.
Conclusion
Once again, the owners of buildings are faced with burdens. The building file held by the Vienna Building Authority is no longer sufficient. The burden of documentation (partly relating to documents that should be held by the authority anyway) is passed on to the owners. In individual cases, it can be quite difficult to obtain the required documents.
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