Red disc: what it means and how to check a building

1. What the red disc means

The red disc is the marker placed on buildings assigned seismic risk class I (RS I) following a technical assessment, under OG 20/1994. These buildings have a high risk of collapse in a major earthquake, are legally treated as a “public danger” and have the highest priority for seismic strengthening. Most are interwar buildings in central areas, built before modern seismic standards.

“Red disc” is the colloquial term. Documents use the official wording: “assigned seismic risk class I (RS I)”. The physical marker must be displayed on the building, but in practice it is missing from many properties, so checking official lists is more reliable than looking at the façade.

2. How to check whether a building has a red disc

The quickest way is to search for the address in our free tool:

• Find red-disc buildings - by street and on the map, with the risk class, year and assessment.

The data comes from official lists: AMCCRS (Administrația Municipală pentru Consolidarea Clădirilor cu Risc Seismic) for București and open data for more than 20 other counties. Bear two things in mind: the up-to-date official list remains the one published by the local authority, and a building's absence from the results does not guarantee an absence of risk - nationwide coverage is incomplete.

3. Seismic risk classes (RS I-IV, U1-U3)

The red disc covers class I only. A technical assessment assigns a building to one of these classes:

• RS I - high risk of collapse (red disc), highest priority;
• RS II - high risk of major structural damage;
• RS III - moderate risk;
• RS IV - low risk.

There are also urgency categories U1-U3 for buildings requiring a detailed assessment. A strengthened building leaves its risk class. For details of each class and its technical meaning, see the guide to seismic risk classes RS I-IV.

4. What it means for buying

A red-disc building is not necessarily ruled out as a purchase, but it changes the calculation. Alongside safety, RS I affects value (the price is generally lower, but resale is harder too) and future costs (seismic strengthening is a major investment). Treat the risk class as an essential check, alongside the land register extract and flood exposure.

5. Mortgages, insurance and legal restrictions

Three practical consequences to check before signing anything:

• Mortgages - many banks refuse or restrict mortgages on RS I buildings that have not been strengthened, because this affects the security for the loan. Ask the bank before the preliminary contract.
• Insurance - the compulsory PAD policy is taken out in any event (130 lei/year for concrete or brick buildings), but additional voluntary insurance may cost more or be refused.
• Restrictions - the law restricts certain uses (for example, ground-floor spaces where people gather in large numbers) in RS I buildings that have not been strengthened.

6. Seismic strengthening: who pays and what to ask

National and local programmes co-fund the strengthening of buildings at seismic risk; conditions and owners' contribution rates vary. When considering such a building, ask what stage it has reached (assessed, design underway, works underway), whether the owners' association has decided to join the programme and what the contribution per flat would be. In București, progress is tracked through AMCCRS; in other cities, through the local council.

7. Our data coverage

Our tool covers the municipality of București (the official AMCCRS list) and more than 20 counties (using open data compiled from official technical assessments). Nationwide coverage is not complete - some cities publish their lists only locally or as scanned documents. Use the result as a starting point and always confirm it against the building's assessment report before a transaction.

Need a full property check (seismic risk, encumbrances, owner, value)? See the seismic risk and context report.

Frequently asked questions