The Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the latest amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction at the end of July this year, which entered into force on 4 August 2023 (the “New Law”). In the following text, you can find some of the most significant novelties introduced by the new regulations.
The New Law prescribes the obligation to submit a Certificate of Energy Properties of Buildings, i.e. for separate part of the building for the purpose of notarization of a real estate purchase agreement or conclusion of a lease agreement, whereby the Certificate cannot be older than ten years. Also, such Certificates must be provided for all new buildings from the date of entry into force of these amendments, while the deadline for owners of existing commercial buildings is five years and for owners of existing residential buildings a deadline is ten years. Until the expiration of the mentioned deadlines, it is not necessary to submit a Certificate of Energy Properties of Buildings for notarization of the real estate purchase agreement and conclusion of the lease agreement, nor is the Certificate a condition for notarization of the purchase agreement of the building or separate part of the building under construction.
The New Law further stipulates that in the future the Government will adopt a Spatial Plan of the Region of Special Purpose for areas for which is planned the construction of electro-energetic infrastructure facilities that require a special procedure of organization, strategic energy facilities, as well as projects for the construction of facilities of importance for the Republic of Serbia, and which can be made simultaneously with the conceptual design.
Within 3 months from the entry into force of the New Law, Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism should be established, which will in the future manage the Central Register of Planning Documents, and local self-government units have the obligation to submit to the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism, within six additional months from the day of establishment, data on brownfield sites in their territory, which will be compiled within six months in the Register of Data on Brownfield Sites and which will be publicly available.
It is prescribed that Information on the Location can be issued by a Notary Public, i.e., a legal entity or an entrepreneur who is registered for the preparation of planning documents.
The New Law introduced, in addition to the project of importance, a Project of Special Importance to the Republic of Serbia, whereby the criteria and procedure for determining a project of special importance is prescribed by the competent ministry. Also, one of the more significant novelties is that in the process of expropriation of land whose purpose has been changed for the purposes of building a linear infrastructure facility of special importance for the Republic of Serbia, the compensation for expropriation is determined as for agricultural land, i.e. forest and forest land, and not as for construction land.
Furthermore, the New Law prescribes the obligation to connect all building owners to the existing infrastructure (water supply, sewerage, gas pipelines and district heating), while building owners who submit proof that they will use renewable energy sources do not have this obligation.
Investors who obtain a Green Building Certificate upon completion of the building have the right to a reduction of the calculated contribution for the development of construction land in the amount of 10% in relation to the total amount of the contribution.
With the New Law, the previous provisions of the Law on the Conversion of the Right of Use into the Right of Ownership on Construction Land for a Fee ceased to be valid, it means consequently revocation of the conversion for a fee in general. However, the New Law prescribes certain categories of persons who still have an obligation to pay the conversion fee, but their position will be regulated by special regulations, and these categories are sports clubs and associations, housing and agricultural cooperatives, as well as persons to whom the Annex to the Agreement applies G of the Agreement on matters of succession. In a situation where a part of the cadastral parcel is intended for the arrangement or construction of public purpose buildings or public areas (like public roads), the preliminary issue for acquiring property rights in the procedure of conversion of the right of use is a subdivision project prepared and confirmed for the purpose of dividing that cadastral parcel.
In respect of the construction of electro-energetic facilities, the New Law prescribes that in the event of a change of the building permit, a new Energy Permit must be obtained if the capacity determined by the energy permit is increased or when the scope of the area on which the works are carried out is changed.
The New Law specifies the duration of validity of the Building Permit in situations where the Building Permit is amended, it means that it is valid for five years from the date of the decision on the amendment of the decision on the building permit, as well as for decision on the building permit.
Also, the New Law introduced two new obligations for investors:
Third-Party Liability Insurance for the damage that may possibly arise from the execution of the works, should be submitted along with the Notice of Commencement of Works, before the start of the works, in order to preserve the safety of persons and neighboring buildings,
along with the application for the issuance of a Usage Permit, a Waste Movement Document, i.e. a document on the movement of hazardous waste should be submitted, confirming that the waste created by construction and demolition (construction waste), was submitted to the operator of the waste treatment plant, i.e. waste storage.
Regarding the liability for construction of the building without a building permit and notice of commencement of works, the New Law introduced the authority of the construction inspector to file a criminal complaint and initiate the proceeding for revocation of a license of the responsible contractor, in the case of execution of construction works without a building permit and notice of commencement of works.
Furthermore, the New Law prescribed the obligation that all new buildings must be designed, built and maintained in such a way that the external units of air conditioning devices must not be visible, i.e., they must not have an impact on the immediate environment. Building owners, i.e., owners of separate parts of buildings within the boundaries of immovable cultural property have a period of 5 years to fulfill this obligation. On the other hand, a period of 10 years is prescribed for the fulfillment of the obligations for the building owners outside the boundaries of immovable cultural property to remove the external units of air conditioning devices.
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