The new Building Act also began to apply to ordinary buildings. It shortens permitting processes and makes construction cheaper

Instead of two, the new Building Act introduces a single procedure in which the building is placed and permitted. From the builder's point of view, it is also a single stamp. It establishes fixed deadlines for issuing a decision - 30 days from the date of initiation of proceedings in the case of simple construction, 60 days from the date of initiation of proceedings in other cases. If the builder does not provide binding opinions on the application, the building authority will request them from the relevant authorities itself. The law also prevents so-called ping-pong, if a participant appeals, the superior building authority decides, the file is never returned anywhere."The new construction law as a whole will lead to the acceleration of permitting processes and, together with the decree on construction requirements, will mainly make housing projects cheaper. For me, it is also essential that he managed to get local governments, professional chambers and, above all, the votes of legislators from all political parties in the House of Representatives. Builders need certainty that the law will not fundamentally change with each new government," said Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and Minister for Local Development Ivan Bartoš.

The unified environmental opinion now replaces opinions under nine different laws. The new Building Act also expanded the range of buildings that do not need an assessment by the building authority. These are some constructions of renewable energy sources, replacement of lines and networks or connections up to 25 m and others. Thanks to the digitization of construction management, the simplification of documentation or the transfer of complex buildings to the Transport and Energy Building Office, the volume of official actions will be reduced by 30 to 40% at small construction authorities."In the new Building Act, we have kept decision-making as close as possible to the people, in the municipalities themselves. On the other hand, it was important for us to relieve the smaller construction authorities, which have been dealing with a lack of employees for a long time. We are also striving for changes in tabular salaries, and the digitization of construction management will finally provide us with the data we need to set the performance funding of the authorities," Bartoš summarized.

Together with the new Building Act, the related implementing regulations are also effective from July 1. In addition to the Collection, they are also available on the MMR website here.

Decree on construction requirements

The decree significantly simplifies the requirements, and even completely waives some of the surviving ones, for example, for sunlight or the height of family recreational buildings. It reduces the demands on parking spaces or cancels the need to separate the toilets from the vestibule. Depending on the location, these changes can reduce the investment costs of the apartment. In addition, the decree takes over and replaces the technical requirements of several existing regulations, and thus significantly unifies the legislation. Thanks to a number of exceptions, municipalities can now adjust the requirements for the demarcation of land or the location of buildings according to their needs in their regulatory plans and territorial plans with elements of the regulatory plan.

Decree on the establishment of municipal construction authorities

It determines the municipalities in which building authorities are located and defines their administrative districts. It is true that decision-making remains directly in the territory, in the hands of officials who know the local situation best. With the exception of six municipalities, which themselves requested the abolition of the building authority.

Decree on construction documentation

The documentation for planning permission is now only one-step – it is not prepared separately for zoning decisions and building permits. Its scope and detail are significantly limited. Newly, the documentation for planning permission corresponds to today's documentation for zoning decisions, extended by the assessment of statics and fire safety. The decree also limits the cases where certain data were stated repeatedly in different parts of the documentation. In order to avoid the need to prepare more documentation in accordance with various legal regulations for more complex constructions, the MMR has prepared the so-called "Annex for documentation of permits for a set of constructions". Thanks to it, the whole process is easier, especially for designers.

Decree on the implementation of certain provisions of the Construction Act

It contains application forms that are sent to planning authorities or a proposal form for the determination of a buffer zone. It also regulates in detail the system of construction technical prevention and the issue of authorized inspectors. The decree is closely linked to the digitization of construction procedures and also determines the form of related forms. The new Building Act makes it possible to submit an application in both paper and electronic form. The decree ensures machine readability of data. The builder's portal guides the applicant to fill in only those parts of the interactive form that relate to his intention.