In brief

  • The state is launching the National Housing Accessibility Programme “Lift for Life”, through which city halls install lifts, platform lifts, mechanised stairs or ramps in apartment blocks with 3 or more floors that were not built with a lift.
  • It primarily targets elderly people, people with reduced mobility, people with locomotor disabilities and families with small children living above the ground floor, in blocks whose owners’ associations sign a mandate contract with the city hall.
  • Funding is non-reimbursable, from European funds and the state budget; the first 18 months are a pilot project for up to 100 blocks, two for each county-seat town.
Act: Law no. 153/2026, promulgated by Decree no. 428/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 592 of 20 July 2026
Enters into force: 19 August 2026

Old apartment blocks without a lift, mostly built in the 1960s-1980s, are getting a dedicated legal and financial tool. Law no. 153/2026 on regulating the National Housing Accessibility Programme – “Lift for Life”, promulgated by Decree no. 428/2026 and published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 592 of 20 July 2026, sets up a multi-year programme through which local authorities can install lifts, platform lifts, mechanised stairs or access ramps in condominiums with three or more above-ground levels that were not designed with a lift in the original plans. The law comes just days after the change to the conditions for reduced VAT on a first home, part of the same broader package of legislative measures from the summer of 2026 that directly touch the housing market.

The programme is coordinated by the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration (MDLPA) and the Ministry of Investments and European Projects (MIPE), and applies to condominiums in protected built-up areas too, subject to historic-monument protection legislation. Buildings classified or in the process of being classified as historic monuments are exempt from the programme, as are those assessed, through technical expertise, as being in seismic risk class RsI or RsII – for the latter, however, the law allows accessibility works to be included, in an integrated way, in the seismic-strengthening programme.

What it changes in practice

Who implements it and how it’s activated. The programme runs through the local administrative-territorial units (city halls), which act as beneficiary and carry out the investments on behalf of the owners’ associations. The link between the city hall and the block is a mandate contract, signed either by the owners’ association or, in its absence, by at least two-thirds of the owners of the dwellings and two-thirds of the owners of non-residential spaces in the condominium.

Non-reimbursable funding, in stages. The money comes from European funds dedicated to housing, from state-budget transfers through the MDLPA budget, from local budgets and, optionally, from donations or sponsorships. In the first 18 months after the law enters into force, funding is provided with priority from European funds, through a pilot project targeting accessibility works for up to 100 condominiums – two for each county-seat town or administrative-territorial subdivision of Bucharest. Only after this pilot does the programme move into its second stage, expanding to all eligible condominiums nationwide, funded from the state budget.

Who gets priority. A condominium can enter the programme if at least one elderly person, one person with reduced mobility, one person with locomotor disabilities, or one family with a toddler or preschool-age child lives on a floor other than the ground floor. Selection takes into account the number of such people in the block (the more there are, the higher the priority), the building’s height class (taller blocks get priority) and the year of construction – buildings built after Standard no. 23/IX of 15 June 1978 came into force get priority.

Accepted technical solutions. Besides an actual lift, the law also accepts alternative or complementary solutions – mechanised stairs, platform lifts or access ramps – where installing a lift isn’t possible. The works must ensure adequate technical space (in the stairwell or, if that’s not possible, outside the building), comply with accessibility standards and the strength, fire-safety and health requirements of Law no. 10/1995, with low energy consumption, without affecting the building’s architectural features.

Simplified authorisation. Accessibility works benefit from a simplified authorisation regime: the usual fees set out in the Fiscal Code are not charged, and for interventions on common areas or on the public land adjacent to the condominium, the building permit is issued without title to the property, without a cadastral plan extract and without a land-registry information extract. To this end, the law also amends Law no. 50/1991, introducing the possibility of issuing a building permit without full urban-planning documentation, when the works don’t change the building’s use and comply with accessibility technical standards.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

  • There was no dedicated national programme: until now, installing a lift in an old block was, in practice, solely up to the owners’ association or depended on scattered local programmes, with no European or state-budget funding explicitly dedicated to this purpose.
  • Authorisation used to be cumbersome: works to fit a lift into an existing block usually required full urban-planning documentation, fees and, often, land-registry extracts for the common areas; the new law significantly simplifies this path for accessibility works.
  • Seismic strengthening and thermal rehabilitation used to be separate from accessibility work: Law no. 212/2022 (seismic risk) and Emergency Ordinance no. 18/2009 (energy performance) did not explicitly allow lift-installation works to be integrated into the same project; the law now introduces new articles into both acts, allowing accessibility works to be carried out at the same time as strengthening or thermal-rehabilitation works.
  • There was no unified prioritisation mechanism: decisions on which blocks got a lift depended on each city hall’s own resources and priorities; the law introduces eligibility and priority criteria valid nationwide.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • Non-reimbursable funding for owners’ associations, who no longer have to bear the full cost of a new lift alone, often prohibitive for the small budgets of old blocks.
  • Clear eligibility criteria, centred on elderly people, people with disabilities or reduced mobility, who are the most affected by the lack of a lift in blocks without accessible ground-floor entry.
  • The possibility of combining accessibility works with seismic-strengthening or thermal-rehabilitation works already planned or under way, saving time and money.
  • The simplified authorisation regime shortens an administrative path that, in practice, could take months or years before works actually began.

What remains a problem

  • The pilot project only targets up to 100 condominiums nationwide in the first 18 months – a tiny fraction of Romania’s lift-less blocks, and the nationwide expansion stage depends on money available in the state budget, year by year.
  • The electronic platform for submitting funding applications only opens “after the programme is included in the state budget law,” with no firm deadline set in the law.
  • The methodological norms that will detail exactly how the programme is applied (required documents, eligible expenditure categories) haven’t been published yet – the law gives them a 90-day deadline from entry into force, i.e. around mid-November 2026.
  • Owners’ associations remain responsible for all operating, maintenance and inspection costs of the lift once installed, which can create new monthly maintenance fees.

Practical advice

  1. If you live in a block with 3 or more floors and no lift, with elderly or disabled people living above the ground floor: discuss with your owners’ association about adopting a resolution to join the programme, and prepare the nominal list with owners’ written consent, required for the mandate contract with the city hall.
  2. If you’re the chair of an owners’ association: contact your city hall early to find out whether your locality plans to submit applications for the pilot project, since the number of eligible condominiums is limited to two per county-seat town in this first stage.
  3. If you work in the administration of a city hall with lift-less blocks in its area: prepare the inventory of these buildings early, required by law within 6 months of entry into force (by 19 February 2027), structured by height class, construction period and construction solutions.
  4. If you have a block classified in seismic risk class RsI or RsII, or targeted for thermal rehabilitation works: check whether you can include the lift installation in the same strengthening or thermal-insulation project, an option now explicitly introduced by law and which can reduce total costs.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays for the lift installed through the “Lift for Life” Programme?
Funding is non-reimbursable and comes from European funds, from the state budget (through the budget of the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration) and, complementarily, from local budgets. The owners’ association doesn’t pay the cost of the initial investment, but remains responsible afterward for the lift’s operating, maintenance and inspection costs.
Which blocks are eligible for the programme?
Condominiums with 3 or more above-ground levels that were not designed with a lift in the original plans, except those classified as historic monuments and those assessed as being in seismic risk class RsI or RsII (which can nevertheless integrate accessibility works into the seismic-strengthening programme). In addition, at least one elderly person, one person with reduced mobility, one person with locomotor disabilities, or one family with a toddler or preschool-age child must live on a floor other than the ground floor of that stairwell.
When does the programme actually start?
The law enters into force on 19 August 2026. The pilot project, funded from European funds for up to 100 condominiums, runs for the first 18 months from that date, i.e. until February 2028. The methodological norms and the pilot’s funding mechanism must be approved within at most 90 days of the law’s entry into force.
How is an application for lift installation submitted?
The owners’ association (or, in its absence, at least two-thirds of the owners) signs a mandate contract with the city hall, authorising it to carry out the investment. The city hall then submits the funding application to the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, on the dedicated electronic platform – which opens, according to the law, once the programme is included in the state budget law.
Who becomes the owner of the lift once it’s installed?
The lift and its associated installation become common property, in undivided shares, of the condominium’s owners – just like the block’s other common areas. If the installation is placed on the adjacent land, ownership belongs to the local administrative-territorial unit. The owners’ association gets the right of use and is responsible for maintenance.
Can the lift be combined with other works, such as seismic strengthening or thermal rehabilitation?
Yes. The law explicitly amends Law no. 212/2022 on reducing seismic risk and Emergency Ordinance no. 18/2009 on the energy performance of residential blocks, allowing works to install lifts, platform lifts, mechanised stairs or ramps to be carried out in an integrated way, at the same time as seismic-strengthening or thermal-rehabilitation works, based on the same technical-economic documentation.

The “Lift for Life” Programme isn’t the only 2026 intervention in the old housing stock. In early July, the Ministry of Development amended the seismic-strengthening rules, so that blocks damaged by explosions or fires can enter the programme without the usual eligibility criteria.

Original text of the legal act

Below is the full text of Law no. 153/2026, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 592 of 20 July 2026, together with promulgating Decree no. 428/2026. The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official language of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 592 of 20 July 2026 32 pages PDF, 179 KB the act starts on page 2

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.