The procedure leading to obtaining a building permit according to the current legislation is unreasonably lengthy and complex. New construction law aims to eliminate this condition. In this article we will therefore outline changes that the new construction law will bring, and also the moment from which it will proceed according to the new building act.

Building permit in a single procedure

Nowadays, the first step is to obtain a building permit territorial management, to which it follows construction management. The new construction law introduces unified joint planning permission procedure. One procedure will thus replace not only the two-round process, but also a number of other hybrid procedures existing alongside it – for example, simplified zoning proceedings, notification or zoning approval. This way, the builder does not have to worry about choosing the right procedure. In the current Building Act, there is also a variant of joint zoning and construction management, but this is not used much in practice.

Expedited proceedings

The only alternative to planning permission proceedings in the new Building Act is accelerated driving, which it replaces the existing zoning approval and construction notification and allows the issuance of a permit as the first step in the procedure. If these are simpler cases and if the conditions laid down by law are fulfilled (the obligation of the authorities to provide preliminary information on the conditions related to the issuance of a decision on planning permission is now also extended to the concerned authorities), in particular if the municipality has issued a spatial plan, the construction in question is in accordance with the law and the builder has documented the consent of all participants, the builder will obtain a permit immediately after submitting the application.

Digitization

The new construction law will bring the possibility for the builder to file application electronically. Application forms will be available in builder's portal, where it will also be possible to watch management status. The builder's portal is intended to facilitate communication between the builder, the building authority and the relevant authorities. Whether it will be possible to implement and put into practice all the necessary IT systems, however, with current developments and especially the intervention of the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition in the subject public contract, remains a question.

Deadlines for issuing building permits

According to the current legislation, the concerned authority shall issue a binding opinion without undue delay, within 30 days at the latest, while the specified deadline is possible extend by up to 30 days, if it is necessary to order an on-site inspection or if it is a particularly complex case. However, this period does not run during the removal of defects submitted by the builder. If the deadline for the issuance of a binding opinion is not met, it is considered to be affirmative and without conditions. The same deadlines are set by the new Construction Act.

As for the deadlines for issuing decisions, although the existing Building Act anticipates decisions in zoning and, subsequently, building proceedings within 60 days, or 90 days in particularly complex cases, the mentioned deadlines were not observed in practice. According to the new construction law, the building authority will decide for simple constructions within 30 days and in other cases within 60 days, while it is possible to extend these periods by up to 30 or 60 days, respectively (for example, in particularly complex cases, or in proceedings with a large number of participants). However, the new Building Act does not introduce any special tools to enforce the set deadlines that would protect against inactivity, so the question remains whether the building authorities will follow them. The builder thus remains with the standard protection against inactivity, which he can claim through requests for the application of measures against inactivity according to the administrative regulations, possibly by a subsequent action for protection against inactivity according to the administrative court order. The initially considered fiction of a positive decision was dropped during the discussion of the new construction law. In the event of inaction by the authorities concerned in issuing binding opinions, the fiction of consent will continue to apply in most cases.

Coordinated statements and binding opinions

In cases where several statements or binding opinions would be required, which should be issued by the same authority as the authority concerned, it shall issue instead one coordinated statement or binding opinion. In a coordinated statement or a binding opinion, the public administration body will assess the admissibility of the project from the point of view of all the public interests it defends and, where appropriate, state the conditions for their protection.

Unified environmental opinion

Instead of separate statements, binding opinions or decisions related to the environment, which have so far been issued according to nine different laws (the Air Protection Act, the Nature and Landscape Protection Act, the Water and Forest Act, etc.), it is to be issued unified environmental opinion. However, this will not be the case in all cases. For example, if the project is located in a location of European significance, a bird area or a specially protected area, or if, according to the Water Act, it is a permit for the management of surface water, a separate decision or opinion will still be issued. At the same time, it should be mentioned that the unified environmental opinion will issued outside the planning permission procedure.

Institute of Joint Action

A joint meeting of the building authority with the relevant authorities is intended to discuss statements and binding opinions or to eliminate contradictions. The builder and other participants in the proceedings can also participate in the joint meeting, if such a procedure is expedient. However, a necessary prerequisite, without which this tool could hardly lead to more efficient management, is the friendly approach of the authorities themselves. If they stick to their conclusions, the higher authority will inevitably have to deal with possible contradictions, and the proceedings would thus only be prolonged by unsuccessful joint negotiations.

Prohibition of official ping-pong

Appellate administrative body will be newly illegal or incorrect first-instance decisions directly to change. In this way, there will no longer be cancellation of the decision and the constant return of the case for a new hearing by the first-instance authority. After removing the defects and possibly supplementing the evidence, the appellate administrative body will decide on the merits itself.

Efficiency

The effectiveness of the new construction law was moved to January 1, 1 by amendment. At the same time, it is stipulated in the new Building Act transitional period from 1/1/2024 to 30/6/2024, during which the current legislation is followed, with the exception of reserved buildings. According to the new Building Act, in the case of reserved buildings, the procedure will start as early as January 1, 1, while for other buildings only from July 2024, 1.

záver

Although the current form of the new construction law is quite far from its original slogan "one authority - one procedure - one stamp", we still hope that the above changes will lead to a simpler and faster permitting process.

Source: construction.cz

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Mgr. Vladimír Nováček, attorney

Mgr. Barbora Valentová, paralegal