On 19 September 2020 a substantial part of the revision of the building law will come into force Act dated 13 February 2020 amending the Act – Construction Law and some other laws.
In the explanatory memorandum of the project, the government indicated that the need for changes to building law was due to the need to simplify and accelerate the investment and construction process and to ensure greater stability in its settlements. one from significant changes to the amendment is a new order in the regulations concerning the procedures on construction self-sustaining – the amendment provides, inter alia, for a simplified legalisation procedure.
Simplified legalization begins after twenty…
The simplified legalisation procedure will apply to construction sites for which at least the completion of the construction process has been completed 20 years. This is designed to encourage owners to legalise the old building samolas, which, according to the legislator, will allow to regulate the legal status of construction sites and increase their safety.
According to Article 49f the revised construction law, the building supervisor will initiate simplified legalisation proceedings in the event of the construction of a building or part of it being found without the required decision on the construction permit either without the required notification or despite the opposition to that declaration and as already mentioned, if at least the construction has been completed since the completion of the construction 20 years.
…and becomes a matter of formality
Once the Authority finds that it is dealing with a situation in which simplified legalisation procedures should be initiated, it shall require the submission of legalization documents by means of a provision not less than 60 days from the date of its delivery.
These documents include:
- - a statement, subject to penalty, of the right to dispose of the property for construction purposes;
- - post-executive geodesic inventory of a building;
- a technical expert drawn up by a person possessing adequate building rights, indicating whether the technical condition of the building does not pose a risk to human life or health and allows safe use of the building in accordance with the method of use to date or intended.
If there are shortcomings in the documents referred to in the proposed provisions as ‘incompleteness of documents’, the construction oversight body will issue a decision on the obligation to remove the incompleteness and set a deadline for its removal.
It is worth noting that in simplified legalization proceedings, different from the ‘normal’ procedure, no legalisation fee is paid.
Possible two scenarios – legalisation or demolition order
The legislator in the new legislation explicitly predicted two possible scenarios for the completion of a simplified legalisation procedure – the issue of a decision to legalise a construction site or a decision to order the demolition of a construction site.
In the first the case of a construction oversight body shall issue a legalisation decision when complete documents are submitted (or incomplete documents are removed in the appropriate manner) and technical expertise will show that the technical condition of the construction site does not pose a threat to human life or health and allows safe use of the construction site in accordance with the existing or intended way.
However, if the relevant documents or their incompleteness are not submitted, or the technical expertise will negatively verify the technical condition of the construction site in terms of threat to life or human health or from technical expertise, it appears that the technical condition of the building will not allow safe use of the building in accordance with the previous or intended use - a demolition order will be issued.
Author: Michał Skwarek - Council applicant in the legal department Russell Bedford Poland. Graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw.