This week, we've prepared an alert for you, discussing issues of significant importance to many, as they concern the legalization of unauthorized construction. Currently, the procedure for legalizing unauthorized construction is not only complicated and time-consuming, but also expensive, so this amendment to the regulations should be viewed very positively.
Let us remember that we are dealing with illegal construction both when we build a building without submitting the required notification, without obtaining a building permit (we wrote about which buildings are built on the basis of a building permit and which on the basis of a notification in our previous articles - link , link ), as well as when we received an objection from the office to our notification.
Under current regulations, legalization proceedings can only be initiated ex officio. However, the amendment grants the investor the right to decide whether the ex officio-initiated proceedings should be continued. Therefore, the authority will first issue a decision suspending construction work, instructing the investor on the possibility of legalizing the structure and the need to pay a legalization fee, along with the procedures for determining the fee. The investor will then have a 30-day deadline to submit an application to legalize the unauthorized construction. If the investor decides to submit an application, the authority will require them to submit the documents specified by law within a specified deadline, which cannot be shorter than 60 days.
Based on the submitted documents, the authority will determine the legalization fee, after which it will issue a legalization decision. This decision should approve the construction design or the development plan for the plot or area and allow construction work to resume if it has not yet been completed.
Another change is the introduction of a procedure for the simplified legalization of unauthorized construction , where at least 20 years have passed since construction was completed. However, it should be noted that initiating the simplified legalization procedure will not be possible if the authority has already initiated legalization proceedings before the 20-year period expires.
Under the simplified legalization procedure, the supervisory authority will require the submission of legalization documents within no less than 60 days of the date of delivery of the decision. Legalization documents include:
- declaration of disposal of real estate for construction purposes;
- post-construction inventory surveying of a construction object;
- a technical opinion prepared by a person with construction qualifications, indicating whether the technical condition of the building does not pose a threat to human life or health and whether it allows for the safe use of the building in accordance with its current or intended use.
Therefore, under the simplified legalization procedure, there will be no requirement to provide the authority with a building design or a certificate of compliance with the local zoning plan or development conditions decision (if the local plan is not applicable). Submitting complete documents and a positive expert opinion to the authority will result in the issuance of a legalization decision, which will constitute the basis for the legal use of the building. Importantly, under the simplified legalization procedure, no legalization fee will be charged!
This week, we also invite you to visit our website, where we've posted a comprehensive comparison of the regulations on unauthorized construction: the current version and the amended version. We hope you find this table helpful.
Once again, we invite you to follow our articles regularly: last week we wrote about what can be built without a building permit, but after notification, and next week we will tell you what the construction project will look like after the amendment.
Download the table containing the changes
This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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