Property owners and developers across Zimbabwe are being urged to check the expiry dates on their architectural building plans, following a warning from Togaraseyi Projects that construction under a lapsed approval can expose owners to significant legal and financial risk.

Dr Christopher Togaraseyi, chief executive of Togaraseyi Projects and president of the Zimbabwe CEOs Network, said many property owners are unaware that approvals granted by local municipal authorities do not remain valid indefinitely. Once an approval reaches its expiration date without construction having commenced, it becomes null and void, meaning any further building work is considered unauthorised under the law.

According to Togaraseyi, council approval typically lapses after a year or two, depending on the requirements of the local authority, if building operations have not begun on or before the stipulated expiry date. Property owners caught building under an expired plan face the possibility of stop-work orders, financial penalties in the form of levies, or a refusal by council to grant a final certificate of occupation once the structure is complete.

Where an approval has already expired, Togaraseyi said the property owner is required to seek formal renewal of the plan, which may take the form of a re-submission or a regularisation process, in order to legally resume or validate construction on the site. Continuing to build without going through that process, he warned, renders the ongoing construction illegal, regardless of how far the project has progressed.

Togaraseyi pointed property owners toward the approval stamps issued alongside building plans as the key reference point for this information, noting that both the original date of approval and the corresponding expiry date are typically recorded there. Owners are advised to locate and review these stamps before beginning new construction or continuing work on an existing project, to confirm that their plans remain valid.

The warning comes amid continued growth in residential and commercial construction activity across Zimbabwe’s urban centres, with property owners, small-scale developers and homebuilders often managing plan approvals with limited technical or legal guidance. Togaraseyi Projects, based in Gunhill, Harare, has positioned itself as a resource for owners navigating these requirements, offering construction and regularisation guidance for clients uncertain about the status of their approvals.

With council enforcement measures ranging from work stoppages to penalties and occupation certificate refusals, Togaraseyi’s message to property owners is direct: confirm approval validity before laying another brick, rather than risk costly complications further down the line.