The new Building Act, which came into effect in July, is the result of years of preparation and legislative negotiations. Its main goal is to streamline and speed up the building permitting process through the digitisation of construction procedures. Whether digitalisation will truly bring an end to endless rounds of visiting authorities remains to be seen — practice will tell. In the first part of our series, we summarised the key changes introduced by the new Act. The second part focused on changes related to building authorities and the Builder’s Portal. Now, in this next instalment, we turn our attention to what the new legislation means for the categorisation of buildings and their permitting procedures.
Are you interested in what the new Building Act brings to the area of building categorization and building permits?
We already covered the new classification of buildings last year in our article Classification of Buildings under the Building Act. But as they say — repetition is the mother of wisdom — so we’ll briefly revisit the topic here, especially in connection with the following section on permitting procedures.
The new Building Act defines the following categories of buildings:
We’ll go into more detail about the specifics of each category below — in the section on the permitting process.
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One of the key changes in the new Building Act concerns the ways in which construction can be legally carried out. The previous Act offered three regimes constructions that did not require any notification, constructions that had to be notified and constructions that required a permit. The new Building Act abolishes the notification regime, and now we only distinguish between: constructions that do not need to be reported to the building authority, and constructions that must be officially permitted.
Although this may seem like a major shift, in practice the impact on the process of construction approval is not as significant. Despite the changes in terminology and procedure, the new Act remains structurally similar to the previous version.
Under the new Building Act, some constructions still do not need to be reported to the building authority at all. These are typically minor structures, which can usually be carried out by the builder themselves. For other types of construction, however, a licensed building contractor is usually required.
As for other buildings, the law no longer distinguishes between notification and permits. All other buildings are only permitted, but there are still differences between the different types of buildings. In the case of simple buildings, there is a shorter time limit for deciding on the application for a permit - 30 days, the same time limit within which the building authority should have given its consent to the execution of the notified building. In other cases, the time limit for the decision is set at 60 days, i.e. identical to the time limit for buildings that were permitted under the old Building Act. The building authority may again extend the time limits for several reasons: in complex cases, in cases where an oral hearing is ordered and in cases with a large number of parties.
A construction project can now also be permitted through so-called fast-track proceedings. The builder must apply for this type of procedure, and additional conditions set out in Section 212 of the new Building Act must be met (for example, a zoning plan must be in place, the project must not be subject to EIA assessment, etc.). In such cases, the building authority issues the permit as the very first step in the process. Although the law does not set a fixed deadline for fast-track proceedings, it is expected that decisions will be issued more quickly than under the standard procedure — ideally within just a few days.
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The categorisation of buildings also affects their subsequent approval process. The necessity of the approval procedure again varies according to the type of buildings.
According to the law, no occupancy approval is needed for buildings that do not require a permit, i.e. minor buildings. In most cases, simple buildings also do not require approval. However, there are important exceptions — residential buildings, buildings for family recreation, cellars, and garages must go through the occupancy approval process. Even if such buildings meet the criteria for a simple structure, they still require approval. Approval is also necessary in the case of building modifications that change the use of part of a structure, provided such modifications do not affect load-bearing structures and do not alter the building’s appearance (i.e. changes in intended use before completion that do not require a new permit).
According to the law, no occupancy approval is needed for buildings that do not require a permit, i.e. minor buildings. In most cases, simple buildings also do not require approval.
The law again introduces accelerated proceedings, under the so-called re-permitting procedure. The recolocation procedure consists in permitting a change in the use of a building or a part thereof, only in cases where the change is not conditioned by a modification of the building that would require a permit. For the accelerated procedure under the re-aprroval procedure, again, the decision is issued as the first act in the procedure.
New provisions have also been introduced regarding the removal of buildings. A structure may be removed either at the request of the builder (voluntary removal) or by decision of the building authority. The authority may proceed with removal especially in the case of unauthorized constructions, i.e. buildings constructed in conflict with the issued permit, without a permit, or in violation of legal regulations. Another reason for removal could be a situation where the building poses a risk to the health or life of people or animals.
If the removal is requested by the builder, the application must be submitted in any case where the structure requires a permit or contains asbestos. If the conditions under Section 247 are met, the removal may be approved in simplified proceedings (even if not formally labelled as such, the decision is again issued as the first step in the process). If no issues arise, the building authority will grant the removal.
The second option is removal by decision of the building authority, which is particularly interesting from the point of view of unauthorized buildings. There have been changes in this area. If somebody builds an unauthorized building, it does not mean that it will be removed; that is the last step. An unauthorized building can also be legalised.
Legalisation of an unauthorized building consists in the fact that this building, even if it was originally built in violation of a permit, without a permit or in violation of the law, is subsequently permitted after meeting the prescribed conditions. The aim of the new Building Act was to make legalisation more stringent, which has indeed been achieved. In the original version, the conditions were even much stricter than they are now, but legalisation will still be more complicated than before.
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In the first place, the application for regularisation must be made within 30 days of the date of the initiation of the removal proceedings. An application submitted later cannot be accepted. However, an application may, of course, be submitted before the removal proceedings are initiated. Other conditions must also be met for a supplementary permit, first of all, of course, it must be accompanied by all the documents and information as in the case of the initial permit application itself if it were a regular procedure. However, there are further conditions attached to this:
In this part of our series, we focused on the categorisation of buildings under the new Building Act and on the individual permitting procedures, in the order they typically occur. While some of the changes may initially seem significant, their practical impact is not as substantial as it might appear.
Of course, the notification regime under the previous Building Act was less “formal,” but for most builders, the main concern is the decision-making deadlines, which the new legislation has largely preserved across the various building categories. As always, the law introduces many changes, but for most people, the ones we’ve discussed above are the most important — and also the ones you’ll most commonly encounter in practice. At the end of August, you can look forward to the next part in our series, which will focus on changes in spatial planning.
Being able to solve real problems for real people is an activity that fulfills me. In my practice, I originally focused mainly on enforcement law, but in recent years my specialty has become civil law. I mainly deal with real estate law, but I also provide consultations in the field of e-commerce.
