Amendment of the Construction Law – only five years for annulment of the permit for construction

The government is currently working on a bill on a major amendment to the Construction Law. One of the key changes included in the bill is the introduction of a uniform time limit for annulment of the decision granting permit for construction. The deadline is five years from the date of delivery or announcement of the permit for construction. After the deadline, the competent architectural and construction administration body will not be able to annul such a decision, and only will be able to determine the issuance of the contested decision in violation of the law.

In the justification to the bill, it was stated that the period of five years is sufficient to identify possible irregularities in the decision on permit for construction. In the opinion of the government, by introducing a time limit to undermine the final decision, the durability of building permits will be strengthened in this way.

Certainly, the proposed change will increase the legal certainty and improve the situation of investors, excluding the possibility of annulment of permit for construction after many years from the implementation of the investment, e.g. due to the invalidity of the zoning plan on the basis of which the permit for construction was issued. Pursuant to the currently binding regulations, theoretically there is no time limit for annulment of a permit for construction issued without a legal basis, with a gross violation of the law or permanently unenforceable. It is worth noting, however, that in such cases, incidents of refusal to annul multiannual decisions, with reference to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal, occur in such situations. However, in other cases provided for in the provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure, the annulment is limited by a longer ten-year deadline.

The amendment of the Construction Law provides for vacatio legis, three months from the date of announcement. After the entry into force of the amendment, the provisions of the current Construction Law shall apply only to cases initiated and not completed until the amendment enters into force. This means the possibility of applying the shorter term of”limitation period” of a permit for construction also for investments made before the amendment enters into force, provided that no proceedings for annulment are instituted until that date.

Do you want to know more about the planned changes in the Construction Law and other investment laws? Contact us.