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 was
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.
MILLER, CANFIELD,
W. BABICKI, A. CHEŁCHOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.
ul. Batorego 28-32
81-366 Gdynia
Tel. +48 58 782-0050
Fax +48 58 782-0060
gdynia@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Nowogrodzka 11
00-513 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 447-4300
Fax +48 22 447-4301
warszawa@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Skarbowców 23a
53-125 Wrocław
Tel. +48 71 780-3100
Fax +48 71 780-3101
wroclaw@pl.millercanfield.com
Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Miller Canfield. It is intended to provide only a summary of
certain recent legal developments of selected areas of law. For this reason the information contained in this publication should not form the basis of
any decision as to a particular course of action; nor should it be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual
cases. The services of a competent professional adviser should be obtained in each instance so that the applicability of the relevant legislation or other
legal development to the particular facts can be verified.