New Building Act (but not until 01.07.2023)

You must have heard about the new Building Act already. Unfortunately, it will come into force 2 years from now, on 01 July 2023. The new Building Act fundamentally changes the existing concept of building procedures in many ways.  It is intended to significantly simplify, speed up and digitise the existing construction-related procedure. It aims to eliminate the shortcomings of the current law - in particular the length of the procedure and the large number of stamps needed to obtain individual permits. The law sets a time limit for the issuance of building permits and decisions, as well as a time limit for statements to be obtained from the authorities concerned. The building authority is obliged to make a decision within 30 days for simple constructions (e.g. family houses) and 60 days for other constructions (e.g. larger development projects). According to the law, the authorities concerned have a 30-day time limit from the receipt of the application. If their statement is not issued within this period and if no extension of the time limit for another 30 days is requested, the legal fiction of issuing a consent decision will occur.

The construction agenda will be transferred from the municipalities to the state. This change is intended, among other things, to eliminate the often objected bias of municipal officials. The newly established Supreme Construction Authority should also be beneficial, as it will methodically manage the construction authorities to avoid the scenario that each authority decides differently on the same matter.

Do you want to know what specific changes await you from 01 July 2023 on? Do not hesitate to subscribe to our newsletter where we will discuss the new Building Act in detail.