Legal Highlights for Real Estate – February 2024

1. Ordinance on the draft general plan of the municipality

A recent change is the Ordinance of the Minister of Development and Technology, dated 8 December 2023, on the draft general plan of a municipality, the documentation of planning work for this plan, and the issuance of extracts and extracts therefrom (Journal of Laws 2023, item. 2758) (the “Ordinance”) implements Article 13m section 2, which was introduced into the Law on Spatial Planning and Development by the Law of July 7, 2023 (Journal of Laws 2023 item. 1688) (the “Amendment”), which concerns the specific guidelines necessary for use in drafting general plans introduced in the Amendment.

Among other things, the Ordinance specifies:

• the characteristics of planning zones designated within general plans by specifying the basic and additional functional profile of each zone, as well as the minimum proportion of biologically active area;
• the method of using designations, nomenclature, standards and the method of graphical presentation of spatial data;
• the method of documentation of planning work, the template of the list of applications to the draft general plan, the template of the list of opinions and agreements of the general plan.
  

The Ordinance also specifies how to express and calculate the demand for new residential development and the absorption of undeveloped land in residential and mixed-use zones. The indicators will be expressed in terms of population, and the formula specified in the Ordinance will be used to calculate the demand for new residential development. The above findings are crucial for local governments, since the results of the calculations will determine the possibility of designating areas of housing replenishment. In the case of results indicating sufficient absorption of existing undeveloped land and gaps in development in relation to the demand for new housing, the designation of additional areas of housing replenishment will not be possible.

Municipalities have until 1 January 2026 to draw up and adopt general plans. According to an announcement of the Ministry of Development and Technology, as of 20 February 2024, 62 municipalities have begun developing general plans.

2. Approaching entry into force of changes in the field of development projects – the implementation and sale of residential units and new technical conditions for residential buildings.

The first half of 2024 implies the need to adapt to major changes for development projects due to the expiry of transition periods and the entry into force of new regulations.

Be reminded of the Ordinance of the Minister of Development and Technology of October 27, 2023, amending the Ordinance on technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location (Journal of Laws 2023, item 2442), previously described in our Legal RE highlights for October. Significant changes will be introduced regarding the construction of new multi-family residential buildings, including setting the minimum area of commercial units at 25 sqm, increasing the distance from the plot boundary for buildings over 4 stories above ground to 5 meters, setting the minimum share of biologically active area within publicly accessible yards. The regulations will come into force on 1 April 2024.

On 1 July 2024 the transition period related to the implementation of the Act of 20 May 2021 on the Protection of the Rights of the Buyer of a Housing Unit or Single-Family House and the Developer’s Guarantee Fund (Journal of Laws 2021, item 1177, as amended) (the “Act”) will end. The two-year transition period was set for development projects where sales commenced before the date of entry into force of the Act (i.e. 1 July 2022) and at least one development agreement was executed before that date. As a result of the aforementioned change, after the expiration of the transition period, the sale of apartments in development projects will have to be carried out in accordance with the Act.