The act dated 20 February 2015 amending the Construction Law Act and Some Other Acts came into force on 28 June 2015. A number of important changes to the construction process were introduced.
It must be pointed out first of all that the said amendment modifies the list of property development projects that may be implemented exclusively on the basis of a building permit. As the law stands now, a building permit is not required for the construction of a variety of buildings or structures, which may be performed on the basis of an appropriate notification of intent to carry out specific construction works. These buildings or structures include but are not limited to detached single-family houses with the entire area of impact restricted to the plot or plots of land on which they are planned, exits from regional, county and municipality roads, as well as parking bays on such roads, electric power supply lines with nominal rated voltage of no more than 1 kV, and water supply, sanitary drainage, heat supply and telecommunications networks. It should be noted that, under the amended regulations, building permits are required for construction works on any building or structure listed in the Register of Historic Monuments or any building or structure located within an area listed in that register.
In addition, it should be considered that the amendment in question significantly alters the rules for development projects implemented on the basis of a notification of intent to carry out specific construction works. In accordance with the currently applicable regulations of the Building Law, a project owner can apply for a building permit also in relation to development projects with the implementation that requires only the appropriate notification. Further, under the recent amendments, project owners will be able to transfer the rights and obligations arising under the notification of intent to carry out specific construction works that have been submitted by them, provided that the competent authority raised no objection against it, to third parties – just as it is possible to transfer the rights and obligations under the building permit. A longer time limit provided for commencing construction works pursuant to the notification of intent to carry out specific construction works is also noteworthy.
Other important changes have been made to the procedure of putting completed building structures to use. First of all, it should be noted that under the current regulations a variety of development projects are excluded from the obligation to obtain an occupancy permit, including car parks when classified as category XXII building structures. Moreover, in accordance with the new legislation, instead of notifying of the completion of the construction, the project owner may apply for an occupancy permit for a building or structure that has been completed. It is also worth noting that the time limit provided for the competent authority to raise an objection with regard to the intent to commence occupancy of a building or structure, as expressed in the project owner’s notification, has been shortened to 14 days, and in order to comply with that time limit, it is sufficient for the project owner to dispatch the decision at a postal office of the specified operator in the meaning of the provisions of Postal Law.
Hopefully, the changes outlined above will lead, in principle, to a more efficient construction process than to date. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that the introduction of the requirement to obtain a building permit for construction works conducted within the area listed in the Register of Historic Monuments may hinder implementation of development projects in those areas where it will be necessary to obtain such decision even for construction works that would otherwise not be subject to that procedure. This applies in particular to construction works executed in areas located in historic city sections listed in the Register of Historic Monuments because of their architectural or historic layout.