With the new month, we would like to discuss with you the planned changes in the law on which legislative work has begun or changes whose entry into force has already been confirmed by the legislator.
According to information posted on the website of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Development and Technology is currently working on a draft amendment to the Building Law and certain other acts . The rationale for commencing this work is primarily to further streamline and de-formalize the investment process by expanding the list of buildings whose construction will no longer require obtaining a building permit, but will instead require notification of the commencement of construction work to the appropriate public administration body. It also includes buildings and construction works that do not require both a building permit and notification for legal siting.
Consequently, the amendment stipulates that the facilities requiring only prior notification will be: (1) septic tanks for rainwater or meltwater with a capacity of no more than 15 m3 , (2) home shelters and temporary home hiding places along with installations and connections necessary for their use, (3) free-standing communication structures and telecommunications containers, (4) outlets to natural watercourses, (5) culverts no longer than 20 m and with an internal cross-section greater than 0.85 m2 and no more than 3 m2 , (6) small kiosks and street vending pavilions (with a building area of no more than 15 m2 ) , as well as (7) small columbariums in cemeteries. The obligation to obtain a building permit would also apply to construction works involving the installation of technical devices with masts on a building structure, used to generate electricity from wind energy for own needs or for feeding into the grid, with a capacity not greater than the capacity of a micro-installation within the meaning of Art. 2 item 19 of the Act of 20 February 2015 on renewable energy sources, and with a total height greater than 3 m and not greater than 12 m.
However, the catalogue of construction objects that do not require a building permit or notification would be extended to include, among others: (1) drainless tanks for rainwater or meltwater with a capacity of no more than 5 m3 , (2) small construction objects at sports fields, courts and running tracks (locker rooms, small stands, bench roofs, including reserve benches), however, with a simultaneous limitation of the number of such objects in relation to the area of the plot on which they will be located, (3) flagpoles and masts for surveillance cameras with a height of up to 7 m placed on the ground, as well as (4) construction works consisting in the installation of technical devices with masts on a construction object, used to generate electricity from wind energy for own needs or for feeding into the grid, with a capacity not greater than the capacity of a micro-installation within the meaning of Art. 2 point 19 of the Act of 20 February 2015 on renewable energy sources, and with a total height of no more than 3 m.
Additionally, the draft amendment provides for the introduction of legal definitions :
- a home shelter understood as a free-standing protective structure with a closed and airtight structure, with a usable area of up to 35 m2 , equipped with filtering and ventilation devices, intended to protect the users of a single-family residential building against the effects of assumed military threats, extreme weather phenomena and contamination, located underground or partially buried in the ground), and
- temporary shelter understood as a free-standing protective structure of a non-airtight construction, with a usable area of up to 35 m2 , intended to protect the users of a single-family residential building against the effects of assumed military threats and extreme weather phenomena, located underground or partially buried in the ground), as well as regulating the issue of construction of such facilities, with a limit of the area to 35 m2 , which is justified by the deepening armed conflict in Ukraine.
According to the justification for the work on the draft amendment, the provisions regarding the construction of a single-family residential building with a building area of up to 70 m2 will also be subject to change , by clarifying them and eliminating existing interpretation discrepancies, including the procedure to be followed by the public administration body in the event of an incomplete notification submitted by the investor or when its content does not clearly indicate that it concerns a single-family residential building with a building area of up to 70 m2 .
A significant change in investment terms is the entry into force of the regulations amending the regulation on technical conditions that buildings and their location must meet , the so-called "stop patodeveloperce" package, which we wrote about in #170 of this year. According to this amendment, the distances for siting new buildings on a building plot relative to the boundaries of such a plot will also be subject to change, as will the minimum permissible distance for siting production or warehouse buildings in the case of an existing single-family residential building or a collective housing building on another building plot, or when such a building is still being designed.
In addition to the planned changes to the Construction Law, the legislator adopted, pursuant to Article 12 of the Act of December 7, 2023, amending acts to support consumers of electricity, gaseous fuels, and heat, an amendment to the Act of December 17, 2021, on the protective allowance (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 759), thanks to which it will also be possible to apply, based on a submitted application, for one-off financial support to compensate for electricity costs in the form of a protective allowance in 2024. It is important, however, that this benefit will be granted, as before, only to persons who meet the conditions regarding the amount of income in a single-person household and income per person in a multi-person household, respectively.
Next week we will return to you with a topic related to water law, and more specifically, the issue of obtaining water permits.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of March 5, 2024.
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