Building permits

Most building permits and statements are subject to a fee. 
 

See all permit fees: 

City of Helsinki Building Control Price List 2025 (In Finnish, pdf).  

City of Helsinki Building Control Price List 2024 (In Finnish, pdf). 

How to make your building permit application go smoothly

Building Control Services will process your building permit application in three or six months. During this time, we will, among other things, procure statements to support our decision. We will give you an estimate of the project's processing time in the preliminary negotiations.

The three-month processing period applies to ordinary small houses, i.e. detached, semi-detached or terraced houses, for example.

The six-month processing period applies to construction projects that are especially and exceptionally complex in their design. These include buildings with more than nine storeys (more than five storeys in the case of wooden buildings).

Please include in your application all the relevant information needed to process your permit. Only then will we be able to issue a decision on the permit.

Instructions regarding required attachments (PDF, in Finnish)

Delay in processing beyond the target time

• If we are responsible for the delay, we will refund 20% of the building permit fee for each full month of delay.
• We will not compensate you for the delay if we have had to request and wait for missing information or mandatory attachments.

If we do not receive the missing information or the attachments agreed upon in the preliminary negotiations within a reasonable period of time, we will unfortunately be forced to reject the application altogether. We will issue a separate decision on this, which will cost half of the cost of an approval decision.

How the processing time is calculated

The processing time starts from the day on which you submit your application. Examples:  

• Application submitted on 26 March and processing time of up to three months: the decision must be ready by 26 June.
• Application submitted on 31 August and processing time of up to six months: the decision must be ready by the end of February, i.e. 28 February.
• Application submitted 26 March and processing time of three months, but processing is delayed by two months for reasons attributable to the applicant: the decision must be ready by 26 August.
• Application submitted on 26 March and processing time of three months, but the applicant withdraws the application on 15 April and resubmits it on 15 June: the decision must be ready by 15 September.

The date by which the decision must be ready can also be postponed by a weekend or public holiday. This is defined by the Act on the Calculation of Decreed Time Limits (Finlex, in Finnish)(Link leads to external service) (laki säädettyjen määräaikain laskemisesta). 

Average processing times in the period of 1 July 2025–30 September 2025

The processing times listed below are averages of the days needed for the processing of permit applications. Please note that these times have still been calculated differently from the processing period of the new guaranteed processing time. The processing time is calculated here from the application’s date of receipt to the date of the decision. Weekends, public holidays and other mid-week holidays are also included. The average is calculated over a period of three months and updated four times per year.  

Building Control Services has the greatest backlog of applications in spring. In order to avoid congestion and make the processing of applications smoother, the price list features a discount for single-family house projects in the winter season. You can find the permit prices under ‘How much does a permit or statement cost?’

Building permit, all locations:  

• new construction: 144 days
• expansion and alteration work: 92 days 

Building permit, single-family houses:  

• new construction: 110 days
• expansion and alteration work: 198 days 

Building permit, apartment buildings:  

• new construction: 227 days
• expansion and alteration work: 90 days 

Landscape work permit: — (55 days 1 April 2025–30 June 2025)

Demolition permit: 49 days
 

Applications receive notification of the decision approvals in the Lupapiste online permit service.  

Permit decisions made by Building Control Services officials will be on public display for 14 days and permit decisions by the Environment and Permits Sub-committee of the Urban Environment Committee for 30 days. It is possible to lodge a claim for rectification against a permit decision by a Building Control Services official with the Environment and Permits Sub-committee of the Urban Environment Committee. Permit decisions by the Environment and Permits Sub-committee of the Urban Environment Committee can be appealed to the Helsinki Administrative Court.

You can see the public notice list of permit decisions made by Building Control Services officials under Julkipano in the Lupapiste service(Link leads to external service) .

The public notice list for permit decisions by the Environment and Permits Sub-committee of the Urban Environment Committee is viewable in the lobby of Kaupunkiympäristötalo at Työpajankatu 8.

Find permits decisions on the following pages:  

• Agendas and minutes of the Environment and Permits Sub-committee of the Urban Environment Committee (In Finnish)(Link leads to external service)
• Permit decisions from the head of Building Control (In Finnish)(Link leads to external service)
• Decisions from Building Control officials (In Finnish)(Link leads to external service)

A list of public notices and decisions is also on display in the lobby of the Urban Environment House, located at street address Työpajankatu 8, Helsinki.

A permit decision becomes final when the appeal period has expired and no one has appealed the permit decision. The appeal period for a decision by the Environment and Permits Sub-committee of the Urban Environment Committee is 30 days and the appeal period for a decision by a Building Control Services official is 14 days. The date of the decision and the appeal period are indicated in the permit decision.

You may only start the construction work once the permit becomes legally valid. Projects that have been granted a building permit must begin within three (3) years and the construction work must be completed within five (5) years of the permit entering into force. In the case of action permit, demolition permit or landscape work permit, the work must be carried out within three (3) years.

Be sure to apply for an extension of your permit while it is still valid. Unless an extension is applied for during the permit’s period of validity, you will have to reapply.

In Helsinki, all applications for building permits are submitted electronically in the Lupapiste (Link leads to external service) online permit service. General and project-specific guidance and counselling are also primarily provided via Lupapiste. Documents related to the application and construction process monitoring are to be submitted in digital format to Lupapiste.

How to get started and ask for advice in Lupapiste

1.  The first time you use the service, you will be asked to register. After this, you will be able to log in with your e-mail address and password.
2. Enter the street address where your project site is located.
3. Use the “Kysy neuvoa (Ask for advice)” button in the upper right-hand corner to request guidance. 
4. Write a short description of your project and your question(s). The service will direct you to the appropriate expert who can answer your question(s). 

After the consultation, you can turn your request for guidance into a permit application.

The Lupapiste user manual (available in Finnish and Swedish only)(Link leads to external service) offers instructions for registering and logging in to the service, submitting a new application or request for guidance, turning your guidance request into a permit application, and submitting an application.

You can also submit a guidance request form (Link leads to external service) to receive technical support for using Lupapiste.