ᐅ Building Permit Application Lost – What to Do? Who Pays the Costs?

Dear Forum,

I need to get something off my chest.
Building a house is not easy, I know that. But this is quite a rough start.

Actually, I’m looking more for advice on how to handle a situation like this properly — or if anyone has experienced something similar.

The building permit application was submitted on 13.08. I sent it by registered mail with return receipt. I also have the return receipt.
Since I didn’t receive any confirmation of receipt, which is usually standard procedure, I called the building authority.
They have no record of the application. They don’t know where it went because they can only process what they have on file.

So I called the woman who signed the return receipt. She remembers and says she stamped the documents with an incoming mail stamp and placed them in the building authority’s pickup tray.

I also spoke with the woman who distributes the mail to the respective departments. Of course, she doesn’t remember our building permit application.

Since no one else can give me any information and waiting probably won’t solve the issue, I filled out the complaint form on the website today. Still waiting for a response.

I also heard that in the worst case, I should just resubmit the application.
Our architect is a nice guy, but not a saint, and will probably not do it for free. He is not wrong, of course, as this is not his fault either.

Did I overlook something? How would the architect’s fees be handled in this case? Do I even have a “trump card” with the registered mail and return receipt?

What’s frustrating is that normally the building permit is approved within two weeks here. I know that might be a dream for some people. But in this development, all our future neighbors were really lucky to get their building permits within that time frame, give or take a few days.

Maybe someone has been through the same situation.
Thank you all in advance.