Due to the publication of the draft "Act Amending the Building Law and the Spatial Planning and Development Act" (hereinafter referred to as the " Draft "), announced as part of the "Polish Deal" program, which is intended to facilitate the construction of "houses up to 70m² ^, " this week we decided to analyze this issue. Next week, we will return to the issue of calculating fees for excluding agricultural land from production.

As we read at the beginning of the justification for the Bill, the need for changes "results from the need to provide simple legal tools enabling the construction of single-family homes to meet one's own housing needs. (...) without a building permit, without a construction log, and without the need to appoint a construction manager." Moving on to the specific changes, the Bill envisages the introduction of two additional items to the list of investments that do not require a building permit, but only a notification , i.e., those involving the construction of:

point 1a) "detached, no more than two-story, single-family residential buildings with a building area of ​​up to 70 m2 ^, where the usable area of ​​these buildings cannot exceed 90 m2 ^, and their number cannot exceed one per 1,000 m2 ^of plot area";

point 16) " detached single-story buildings for individual recreation understood as buildings intended for periodic recreation, with a building area of ​​up to 70 m2 ^, with a span of structural elements no greater than 6 m and a cantilever reach no greater than 2 m, and the number of such buildings cannot exceed one per 500 m2 ^of plot area."

Let us briefly recall the procedure for submitting a building design (regulated in detail in Article 30 of the Building Law). First and foremost, before construction work begins, a construction notification must be submitted to the appropriate architectural and construction administration authority, including the information and attachments specified in paragraphs 2 and 2a. The authority may request the applicant to supplement the notification, raise an objection, or impose the obligation to obtain a building permit for the construction of a specific structure or construction works. Furthermore, pursuant to Article 30a of the Building Law, the architectural and construction administration authority shall publish, for a period of no less than 30 days and no longer than 60 days, in the Public Information Bulletin (BIP) on the website of the office serving it, within 3 days of the date:

1) delivery of the notification – information about the notification being made, including the name and surname or business name of the investor and the address and description of the planned facility;
2) filing an objection – information about the date it was filed;
3) expiry of the deadline referred to in Art. 30, Section 5 of the Building Law – information that no objection was filed.

Construction works may only commence after the deadline for lodging an objection by the authority has expired.

Although the project authors indicate that the construction of "houses up to 70 m2 ^" will be subject to obligations arising from the Construction Law, such as: notifying the construction supervision authorities and the designer supervising the compliance of the construction with the design of the intended date of commencement of construction works (Art. 41 sec. 4), geodetic marking on the site, and after construction – geodetic as-built inventory (Art. 43 sec. 1 item 2) and notifying the construction supervision authority of the completion of construction (Art. 54 sec. 1 and Art. 57 sec. 1 ba), the proposed changes raise concerns.

The proposed point 1a is particularly questionable. It's worth emphasizing that the Building Law already allows for the construction of single-family residential buildings upon notification , without any restrictions on building or usable area, provided that the investment's impact area falls within the plot or plots on which they were designed . The proposed change, therefore, isn't revolutionary in itself. However, excluding the requirement to appoint a construction manager and maintain a construction log is . This means that during the project, the construction will not be subject to any supervision by a person with a construction license, which is the responsibility of the construction manager. Furthermore, even if any irregularities do occur, without a construction log, there will be no document in which such information can be recorded.

In turn, analyzing point 16), we indicate that the project promoters want to increase the size of individual recreation buildings from 35 m² ^to 70 m² ^, but additionally limit two structural elements (span and cantilever reach – who will verify this and when remains unanswered). At the same time, an obligation to conduct a post-construction geodetic inventory of these buildings will be introduced, which will result in their being disclosed in the land and building register.

Additionally, the drafters propose amendments to the Spatial Planning and Development Act (Article 59, paragraph 2a, and Article 64, paragraphs 1 and 1a), shortening the deadline for issuing a development decision to 30 days in the absence of a local development plan for the construction of the "houses up to 70 m² ^. " The proposed change may expedite the process of obtaining a development decision, but where authorities fail to meet even the 90-day deadlines for issuing development decisions, this provision will likely not be applied in practice.

In summary, the proposed changes are consistent with the announcements made in the "Polish Deal" program. These announcements have certainly been clarified, but the need for their implementation remains questionable, particularly since the proposed changes increase the risk of irregularities in construction work resulting from a lack of professional oversight.

Next week we will return to the analysis of topics related to the implementation of investments on agricultural land.

This alert is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Paweł Kopytowski

Trainee attorney
+48 22 856 36 60 | p.kopytowski@kglegal.pl

Dr. Joanna Barzykowska

Attorney, partner
+48 502 677 504 | j.barzykowska@kglegal.pl