Government changes in building permits. Who will they concern?

Published: 
27.9.2022 10:14 PM
Government changes in building permits. Who will they concern?

At the end of 2021, an amendment to the Construction Law was published in the Journal of Laws, effective from January 3, 2022. At that time, a regulation was introduced stating that the construction of single-family residential houses with an area of up to 70 square meters could be carried out without the need to obtain a permit, appoint a manager and keep a construction log. Currently, the Ministry of Development and Technology has proposed another change that goes one step further. What is it about and whom will it cover?

Will it be possible to build houses without a permit?

At one of the recent conferences, the Minister of Development and Technology, Waldemar Buda, announced that the government plans to abolish the limit on the size of single-family houses, which is required to start investments without the need to obtain a building permit. At the moment, it is 70 square meters, but the government plans to remove this restriction. This would mean that both individuals as well as married couples and families with children who have their plot of land and plan to build it, will not have to apply for a permit for it. The condition is also that the construction of this type of house is carried out in a simplified procedure and for personal use. Then, the permit will not be required and the size of the usable area will not matter. These activities are intended to make it easier for citizens to fulfill the dreams of their own homes.

At the moment, however, these are only preliminary plans and promises, as the government has not published a proposal for a specific project. Therefore, it is not known how the new changes will affect the geodetic industry. The conference shows that to build a house you will not need to hire a manager and keep a special journal. However, this is still possible when the builders do not have the appropriate competencies to supervise the work themselves. Minister Buda also emphasized that the houses are to be intended for individual use, and not for investments by developers who are not dedicated to this project.

So far, there is little interest in building single-family houses up to 70 square meters without the need to obtain a permit. In the period from January to May 2022, this option was used 250 times. Time will tell what the situation will look like in the case of a new project.

Free house designs are provided by the government.

The Ministry of Development and Technology has decided to make free house designs up to 70 square meters available to citizens. The deputy head of the Ministry of Regional Development, Piotr Uściński, mentioned that 22 out of 70 planned projects are currently available. Each of them is to meet the conditions of functionality, environmental friendliness, and aesthetics. To select the best, a competition was conducted, which consisted of two stages. The first was conceptual, and the second was about submitting the final works.

The Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision Dorota Cabańska added that any interested person can now download a free house design from the GUNB website.

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