Amendments to Act on Proceeding with Illegally Built Buildings under parliamentary discussion

At today’s first reading, members of the Croatian Parliament discuss amendments to the Act on Proceeding with Illegally Built Buildings. On behalf of the proponent, the act was presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Branko Bačić.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Bačić was also accompanied by State Secretary Dunja Magaš.

The proposed amendments aim to abolish the prescribed limitation period to submit a legalisation request for illegally built buildings, which enables the applicants to submit a request in any moment, i.e. it enables legal and real possibilities to submit a request. The main legalisation prerequisite remains the same - a building, or a reconstructed part of an existing building, has to have been built illegally, without a building permit, and it has to be visible on the digital orthophoto map of June 21, 2011, done by the State Geodetic Administration. After said date, legalisation of illegal construction is not possible.

According to the proposed amendments to the Act, it will also not be possible to legalise buildings build within the maritime domain, in nature parks, infrastructural corridors, on state, forest and water land, and in the case of an archaeological site, cultural heritage, and UNESCO-protected areas.

The new amendments to the Act also introduce complete digitisation of the entire process. To be more precise, the requests will be submitted through the Physical Planning Information System (ISPU), together with the required documentation. If the applicant fails to attach all the required documents, it will not be possible to submit the request.

The request must include a geodetic survey of the as-built state of the illegal building, which forms part of the geodetic study, as well as a survey of the as-built state developed by an authorised architect or a civil engineer, followed by a statement by an authorised engineer that the building meets mechanical resistance and stability criteria in accordance with regulations valid at the time of construction, and a certificate issued by the authority responsible for state surveying and real estate cadastre confirming the building is visible on the 2011 aerial geodetic survey.

In addition, the applicants will have to pay a fee for illegal construction, which will be higher due to the time elapsed since 2012. The fee will be determined based on the size, location and purpose of the illegally built structure.

In his introductory statements, Minister Bačić pointed out that the Act on Proceeding with Illegally Built Buildings had been adopted in 2011 and amended in 2017, extending the period for submitting requests until June 30, 2018.

“It is important to say that, under these acts from 2011 and 2012, 826,946 legalisation requests were submitted. Since the deadline was later extended until June 30, 2018, additional 75,150 requests arrived. Therefore, currently there are 902,096 legalisation requests received in Croatia, with 822,000 of them resolved by either the Agency for Legalisation of Illegally Built Buildings as the central state body until 2019 or by administrative departments at the county and city levels,” Minister Bačić said, adding that illegal construction still takes place and that the state is obliged to take all the necessary actions to stop illegal construction, punish illegal builders in an appropriate manner and prevent illegal construction through different measures.

“Hence, we have opted for several directions. One of them is the decision to legalise buildings built prior to June 21, 2011. These amendments further prevent legalisation of objects in the areas already designated as areas where legalisation is not possible. We have also tightened the criteria by stipulating that legalisation is not possible in planned research corridors,” the Minister clarified.

Minister Bačić also recalled that the amendments to the Communal Economy Act and the Act on Building Inspection from 2024 grant more authority to municipal services monitoring officers, who can now, alongside building inspectors, conduct inspection procedures over illegal construction.

Regarding future illegal construction, it will be prevented through financial penalties for all stakeholders in the construction sector who initiate works without the required building permit, which has already been prescribed by the new Building Act. The fines range from 4,000 euro for less-complex buildings to 15,000 euro for multiapartment buildings, and 1% of the estimated value of works for other structures. Even though current legislation prescribes misdemeanour and criminal provisions for illegal builders, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration and the State Attorney’s Office, it will be proposed that illegal construction be regulated as a criminal offence under the Criminal Code. Illegal construction will also be prevented through digital supervision.

The “Digital Inspection” system will be integrated in the Physical Planning Information System (ISPU), which will enable everyday monitoring and recording of changes on land, so all illegal construction will be registered. The system will automatically notify building inspectors and municipal services monitoring officers on potential locations of illegal construction. The system is expected to be fully operational in the second half of the year.

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