BUILDING PERMIT

BUILDING PERMIT

Each building, depending on its purpose, must be designed and built in such a way that during its lifetime it fulfills the basic requirements for the building and other requirements, i.e. conditions prescribed by the Law on Construction (Official Gazette 153/13, 20/17, 39/19, 125/19) and special regulations. In accordance with the Law, the investor, the designer, the contractor, the supervising engineer and the auditor participate in the construction of the building. Given that the contractor can begin construction on the basis of a valid, i.e., enforceable building permit at the investor's responsibility, even after the construction notification has been previously made, find out in the rest of this article when a building permit is considered valid, and when there is an enforceable building permit.

When is the building permit issued?

In accordance with the Law on Construction, the construction/reconstruction of a building can be started on the basis of a valid building permit, and construction must be carried out in accordance with this permit. However, the investor can proceed to construction on the basis of an executive building permit at his own risk and responsibility.

The law further states that building permits are issued for:

– construction of the entire building,

- execution of works on the existing building prescribed by the Law on Construction,

- construction of one or more complete buildings of a complex building (stages) determined by a location permit,

- one or more phases of individual buildings determined by the location permit.

An integral part of the construction permit is the main project, which must be specified and certified by the construction authority. For the sake of explanation, the main project is a set of mutually coordinated projects that provide the technical solution of the building and prove the fulfillment of the basic requirements for the building and other prescribed and specified requirements and conditions.

Application for issuing a building permit

The application for the issuance of a building permit is submitted by the investor in electronic form via the ePermit system or to the competent administrative body of a large city, the City of Zagreb or the county, competent for the administrative affairs of construction, depending on the place where the construction or reconstruction of the building is planned.

Legal interest in issuing a building permit

When submitting an application for the issuance of a building permit, it is important to note that although it does not have legal effects on the ownership and other real rights on the real estate for which it was issued and does not represent a legal basis for entering the possession of the real estate, for its issuance it is sufficient to prove a legal interest.

For example, proof of legal interest in the issuance of a building permit is considered to be an extract from the land register, from which it is evident that the investor is the owner or holder of the right to build on the building lot or the building on which it is intended to be built, and the pre-contract, contract or agreement concluded under the condition, based on which the investor has acquired or will acquire the right of ownership or the right to build and other prescribed in Article 109 of the Law on Construction.

What are the conditions for issuing a building permit?

After the application for the issuance of a building permit has been submitted, the parties in the process of issuing a building permit are the investor, the owner of the real estate for which the building permit is issued and the holder of other real rights on that real estate, and the owner and holder of other real rights on the real estate immediately adjacent to the real estate for which the issues a building permit. The aforementioned parties have the right that the construction authority, before issuing the construction permit, gives them the opportunity to inspect the case file for the purpose of making a statement.

Valid and enforceable building permit

The construction permit issued by the construction authority is delivered to the investor with the main project, to the parties who inspected the case file or contacted the construction authority, and to the parties who did not inspect the case file and did not contact the construction authority by posting it on the notice board of the construction authority in lasting eight days.

After delivery of the construction permit, the parties are generally still not allowed to build. Then it is considered that the construction permit is enforceable, but not legally binding. It is allowed to lodge an appeal against the issued construction permit within 15 days from the date of delivery of the decision, if no longer period is prescribed by law or instruction on legal remedy. The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and State Property decides on the appeal.

An administrative dispute can be initiated against the decision of the Ministry on the appeal. If no party complains within the specified period, it is necessary for the investor with the executive building permit to go to the competent officer who will then confirm its validity with a seal.

The law expressly states that the construction permit ceases to be valid if the investor does not begin construction within three years from the date of validity of the permit.

Executive building permit

Although it is stated that an investor may not build on the basis of an executive building permit, as a rule, there is an exception because the executive building permit itself contains a description that "the investor may, at his own risk and responsibility, start building on the basis of an executive building permit."

The above means that the investor can start building even without a valid building permit (therefore, a valid building permit is one against which there are no longer any regular legal remedies), based on an enforceable building permit (an enforceable one is one confirmed by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and State Property , but a lawsuit was filed with the Administrative Court), however at your own risk.

The above means that an executive building permit can lead the investor to a situation where he builds a building, and after a few years the building permit is canceled and then it turns out that he built without a permit with all the consequences of illegal construction.