As announced last week, in today's article we have prepared information about important changes in the law in May 2023 and about an important judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal regarding entries in the municipal register of monuments.
1. Safe Credit Act 2%
The Act on State Aid for Housing Savings, which the real estate market is eagerly awaiting, was passed by the Sejm on May 26, 2023, after considering amendments from the Senate. The Act is still awaiting the President's signature.
The so-called 2% Secure Credit Act stipulates that loans will be available to individuals up to 45 years of age who do not own or have never owned an apartment, house, or cooperative tenancy. The maximum loan amount for a single person will be PLN 500,000, and for a married couple or parents with a child, PLN 600,000. The loan can be used to purchase an apartment or house on both the primary and secondary markets. This time, there is no price limit per square meter, which may increase the program's success.
A key element of the program is a subsidy on mortgage installments, which will be the difference between a fixed rate based on the average interest rate on fixed-rate loans at lending banks and the 2% interest rate on the loan. The subsidy will be available for 10 years.
People who want to buy an apartment, banks and developers are already preparing for the entry into force of the act, which is scheduled for July 1, 2023.
2. Changes in construction law
On June 3, 2023, further changes to the Construction Law will come into force, mainly concerning facilities related to the agricultural market.
From that date, only a construction notification (and not a building permit) will be required for (i) single-story farm buildings and sheds of simple construction, related to agricultural production, with a building area of up to 300 m2, with a structure span of no more than 7 m and a height of no more than 7 m, whose area of influence is entirely within the plot or plots on which they were designed, and (ii) construction facilities for storing grain with a maximum capacity of 5,000 tonnes, located entirely within the administrative boundaries of seaports, of fundamental importance to the national economy, within the meaning of Art. 2 item 3 of the Act of 20 December 1996 on seaports and harbors. In turn, single-story farm buildings and sheds of simple construction, related to agricultural production, with a building area of up to 150 m2, with a structure span of no more than 6 m and a height of no more than 7 m, whose area of influence is entirely within the plot or plots on which they were designed, will not require a building permit or construction notification.
3. Progress in the reform of spatial planning and development
As we reported last week, the amendment to the Spatial Planning and Development Act was passed by the Sejm (lower house of parliament) on May 26, 2023. 238 MPs voted in favor of the amendment, 137 voted against, and 79 abstained. The bill has now been sent to the Senate (File 992), which has 30 days to consider it. It is therefore possible that the bill will be passed by parliament in July, as announced.
4. Judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 11 May 2023
On May 11, 2023, the Constitutional Tribunal issued a judgment (reference number P 12/18) in which it found that Article 22 paragraph 5 point 3 of the Act of July 23, 2003 on the Protection and Care of Monuments, to the extent to which it limits the ownership of real estate by allowing the real estate to be included as an immovable monument in the municipal register of monuments without providing the owner with a guarantee of legal protection against such a limitation , is inconsistent with Article 64 paragraphs 1 and 2 in conjunction with Article 31 paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
The provision reviewed by the Constitutional Tribunal concerned the inclusion in the municipal register of monuments of other immovable monuments designated by the commune head (mayor, city president) in consultation with the provincial conservator of monuments. In practice, it applied to monuments that are not included in the register of monuments or the provincial register of monuments. Until now, the procedure assumed that the conservator would include the monument's address card in the municipal register of monuments without informing the property owner or user. The owner could only learn of such an entry several years after it was made, for example, by submitting an application for a building permit (we have already written about this issue in the article #74).
Interestingly, in response to the above judgment, local government conservators of monuments at the National Congress of Local Government Conservation Services in Poznań, which took place shortly after the judgment was issued, pointed out in their position the need to undertake urgent legislative work on municipal registers of monuments.
We are still waiting for the written justification and, as the conservators noted, until then it seems reasonable to consider the existing municipal registers of monuments as applicable and to apply the provisions of the acts containing legal solutions resulting from the inclusion of objects and areas in municipal registers of monuments.
The recommendation that until the legal situation is clarified, authorities should refrain from including or excluding address cards from municipal registers of monuments should also be considered appropriate. This is merely a recommendation, but in practice, it means suspending ongoing proceedings and refraining from initiating new ones by municipal conservators.
Next week we will return to the analysis of further issues related to spatial planning and development reform.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of June 5, 2023
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