Q&A for the Planning Officer

• Anyone interested in planning in can submit queries to the Office of the Planner.
• Homeowners and landowners, or a consultant on their behalf, may apply to make a change to the master plan, submit a new share plan, and/or make a change to an existing share plan.  
• If a consultant applies on behalf of the homeowner or landowner, the owner/landowner must be indicated in the application and their written mandate must be submitted with the application.

• They may relate to operation and use. Land use is addressed in master plans, such as whether it is residential, open, or occupational. There is a discrepancy as to whether an activity is covered in a division, in which case there is often a more precise description of the activity in a given dwelling. 
• New or change in the division of individual areas,neighbourhoods or city parts. 
• Modification of the Master Plan.
• Increased construction volume, increase in houses or change in land. 
• Change and localization of the individual activity. 
• Demolition of buildings and other human activities. 
• Changes to housing, for example for balconies, twigs, sun loungers, etc.
• Changing the number or arrangement of parking spaces.

An enquiry to the Planner may, among other things, be a follow-up to the current planning and/or the position of the Office regarding a change to the master plan, division plan and land or division of land, without the submission of a complete set of documents.

If the Office is in favour of the inquiry, the matter can be followed up by submitting a formal application unless requested to do so.  However, the positive delivery of an inquiry does not imply final disposition of a case, as the proceedings and the presentation process of an application may affect the final disposition. 

An application to the Planner may be a formal memorandum to amend the Master Plan, to make a new division, to amend an existing division and/or to amend a plot or division of a plot. Application must be accompanied by complete documentation.

Enquiries and applications are submitted to the organizer at the weekly delivery meeting once the delivery fee has been paid.  A delivery fee claim is received at your home bank.  Payment must have been received by 2 p.m. on Tuesday for the minutes to be taken at the next meeting of the organizers. Settlement meetings are equally held on Fridays.  

When an inquiry or application is submitted to the office, the sender will be informed in an automated collection response that the matter will not be processed until payment has been received.

The applicant will also be notified by email or letter about the handling of the case and the fee to be paid in case of continuation of the work/promotion process.  Administration and advertising fees for changes to the master plan or division plan shall be paid before a proposal is advertised following approval of that material. The Commissioning Fee shall be payable prior to acceptance and issuance of Commissioning.  

• Modification of the Master Plan: An application is made for the amendment of the Master Plan to the post of Planner. When assessing whether a change in the Master Plan may be significant or insignificant, it is considered whether the change has a significant impact on land use or is likely to have a major impact on individual entities or large areas.
• New partition: If an application involves a fundamental change in the division of an area, for example concerning land use, building patterns or the surface of the entire area, a new division should be made and the earlier one should be annulled in cases where a new division already exists. In the absence of a partition, a new partition must be processed from scratch for compliance with the applicable master plans. If  a new share plan is approved, the information contained therein will be subject to a formal advertising process.
• Significant change in division: On a case-by-case basis, the Office of the Organizer assesses whether a change is considered substantial or insignificant. The extent to which the proposal deviates from the use, occupancy rate, appearance and form of the area concerned shall be taken into account when assessing whether a change in the division is considered insignificant. In the case of a significant change in the divisional structure, the proposal undergoes a formal advertising process.
• Insignificant change in division: In cases where there is an insignificant change in the division, the change is clearly communicated to the surrounding landowners and tenants that it is believed to affect.
• Building Permit: When applying for a building permit to the building constructor's office in an already built neighborhood and there is no division, the building constructor refers the case for review to the planning officer's office, who decides whether the building permit application should be adjacent to the building permit application in question.

Blueprints of houses can be obtained from the blueprint archive and from the Reykjavik Customer Service by sending an email to info@reykjavik.is

The main and partitions can be accessed from the City of Reykjavik's planning screen.