New Construction Act effective from April 1, 2025. “Temporarily or permanently?

You have undoubtedly already noticed that the new Construction Act, with the easily memorable number 25/2025 Coll., enters into force on April 1, 2025, with the exception of other articles that entered into force as early as March 15, 2025.

Although there are many articles on this issue, we hold the opinion that repetition is never harmful, and therefore we have prepared at least a point-by-point overview of the most important changes in construction legislation.

Construction Intent Proceedings

• The existing two-level administrative proceeding (zoning decision and building permit procedure) will be replaced by the so-called construction intent proceeding, the result of which will be the issuance of a decision on the construction intent (thus no longer a so-called building permit). In practice, the builder should submit only one application, the documents of which will be usable for both zoning and construction assessment. Applications, i.e., proposals to initiate proceedings, should be delivered to the building authority only electronically via a designated form, however, paper applications will still be utilized and accepted until the complete electronification of proceedings. The builder shall attach project documentation prepared by an authorized person and a report on the discussion of the construction intent to the application. It follows from the above that even before the proceedings at the building authority begin, the builder is obliged to discuss the construction intent with the municipality, affected authorities, and participants in the proceedings.

End of Vexatious Objections

• In the new Construction Act, the legislator also reacts to negative practices in the form of various vexatious objections by individuals, the sole purpose of which is to damage the builder and complicate the entire construction process. The administrative authority will not take into account repeated proposals, comments, and objections of participants in the proceedings and affected authorities that have already been discussed and decided upon, nor various anonymous submissions or comments of participants that do not even touch upon the subject of the decision-making.

The Municipality as the Building Authority

• The agenda of the building authority, which falls under the transferred exercise of state administration, will be left in the first instance to municipalities and cities, which may, however, establish common construction districts. The appellate authority against decisions of building authorities will be the regional office of the Office for Spatial Planning and Construction of the Slovak Republic. Special building authorities and other building authorities remain unaffected.

Abolition of the Construction Inspection

• The new law brings about the abolition of the Slovak Construction Inspection, as a result of which its powers will be taken over by so-called construction inspectorates (regional offices). Therefore, the building authority will not have the exercise of state construction supervision and subsequent ex officio proceedings and the enforcement of their decisions in its agenda, nor the hearing of offenses and other administrative delicts, because all of this will be reserved for construction inspectorates.

Fiction of Consent of the Affected Authority

• The affected authority is obliged to issue a binding opinion within a period of 30 days from the delivery of the request or, for complex structures, within a period of 60 days. However, if it does not issue such an opinion within the stipulated period, a so-called fiction of consent is introduced, meaning it is assumed that the affected authority has no comments or further requirements. In this way, the legislator wants to solve the elimination of inactivity of the affected authority.

Extension of Liability

• The law expands the circle of persons who can be sanctioned for non-compliance with building regulations and procedures. This primarily concerns persons performing construction supervision, as well as the actual contractors of the construction, since the builder is often not the one managing the actual construction, but is merely the client of the service. The powers and responsibilities of persons participating in the construction are also clarified – the designer, site manager, construction contractor, person performing construction supervision, surveyor, and statics engineer in the preparation of construction and during the execution of the construction.

Small, Simple, and Reserved Buildings

• The legislator introduces a more precise definition of small buildings, which are understood to be, for example, structures whose area does not exceed 50 m² and height 5 m, mainly shelters, garages, summer kitchens, structures for breeding small animals, or sheds. Underground structures are also considered small buildings if their area does not exceed 25 m² and depth 3 m, mainly cellars, cesspools, or swimming pools. A simple building is a structure or construction structure that does not have a significant impact on its surroundings, e.g., residential buildings with a maximum of three apartments whose built-up area does not exceed 300 m² and have a maximum of two above-ground floors, information structures whose largest information area exceeds 20 m², facilities for the production of electricity, heat, and cold from renewable sources with a total installed capacity of over 100 kW, transformer stations, or charging stations for electric vehicles with a capacity of over 22 kW, including electrical consumption equipment for charging stations and their installation. A reserved building is a building or civil engineering structure that is technologically demanding or structurally unusual, e.g., tunnels, railways and trolleybus tracks, airport structures, dams, nuclear facility structures, or hazardous waste landfills.

And What About Illegal Constructions?

• The new Construction Act no longer counts on the additional legalization of illegal constructions, it tightens sanctions in connection with illegal construction and strengthens control mechanisms aimed at preventing illegal construction. The law also expands the circle of persons responsible for illegal construction and increases financial sanctions. However, in relation to unauthorized structures built before the effectiveness of the new Construction Act, the possibility of additional certification of structures is counted on, alternatively with the possibility of their removal.

Temporarily or Permanently?

• At the same time, the new Construction Act repeals the previous, valid but ineffective Act No. 201/2022 Coll. on Construction, changes legal regulations that governed the area of spatial planning and construction, and introduces new rules that replace them. The question therefore arises whether a relatively quickly “stitched” legal regulation will not require adjustment/correction relatively soon.

Which part of the new Construction Act interested you the most (in a positive or negative sense)? How do you evaluate the legislator’s effort to simplify and speed up the construction proceeding?

If you are interested in specific details or further information, let us know!