Wow, that sounds pretty bad. The only time when I encountered something even remotely similar here was when my parents lived in a big apartment building and th

Wow, that sounds pretty bad. The only time when I encountered something even remotely similar here was when my parents lived in a big apartment building and they wanted to remodel a 4 bedroom flat into a 5 bedroom flat. We did need to get all kinds of permits, submit various certified drawings (mainly due to planned installation of the extra window on the outside), the permit was for 2 years, but it could be extended. I remember permits weren't expensive, but it took a lot of beaurocracy. They needed all these permits, because it's an apartment building, also it's owned by a local version of a coop/housing association. It's a peculiar ownership structure I suppose common to ex-communist countries. Each member owns shares in the coop and the coop owns all the land, the buildings etc, it evolved from the communist times. It let people keep their flats without having to buy them fully. My parents couldn't buy more than a 5% stake in the flat and they paid rent for the remaining 95% (in addition to all the maintenance etc). Many years later when I was building my house. The actual permit to build cost me $30 in fees. Of course I had to hire an architect, a building site manager, a land surveyor which amounted to around $3k if I remember correctly just for them to create all the paperwork, put their stamps on it and certify what I'm about to build is not going to fall on someone's head a decade later. Once I finished the house I had to submit a notice of finishing with 12 pieces of paper if I remember correctly that ranged from my electrician and plumber statements with their respective qualification numbers, to my well water lab analysis results, the ventilation survey, the energy efficiency survey and more. Most of these cost me money paid to individuals that did the checks, but not to the city. The notice was free to submit (well, it's cost was included in the $30 for the permit).