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Post by Madgolfer on Aug 26, 2011 12:21:11 GMT 1
Below is our understanding of the law regarding legalisation of illegally built properties; eg all of those with no building permit;
Effective from 15th July 2011
Klasa; 011-01/11-01/165
Urbroj; 71-05-03/1-11-2
(Also see narodne novine no 90/11)
The law states that all property sales, lease or transfer contracts (basically any property deal) must include copies of the building permit and habitation (usage) permits; any sales contracts without these included will be INVALID.
In the past many people have obtained these permits themselves after they have bought the property, but the govt is cracking down on illegally built properties, so buyers beware.
The new "amnesty" law gives people until the 31st December 2012 to request legalisation of their property, after that IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE-EVER! This applies to any property built before the 21st June 2011.
If you have a sale going through at the moment and don’t have these permits already in place, then be aware and check things out with your own agency and lawyers to make sure that an application has been made.
Sellers should be applying for the legalisation of their properties now and until they have done so any sale transactions will be invalid.
This has huge implications for anyone who does not have a building permit for their property after 31st Dec 2012; in that they would never be able to legally sell their property.
To us it looks like this law has (unusually) been thought through in some detail and there are no real loopholes to exploit. Pay up what you owe in the given timeframe OR ELSE!
As usual in Croatia, most people will probably leave it until the last minute and there will be a huge backlog, but we are told that it will be implemented; there is a huge windfall in this for the Govt.
We understand that once your application is in and has been accepted you will be OK so don’t hang around. You can pay the tax in one lump sum or spread it out over the course of a yet to be confirmed period, but probably not more than 12 months.
Lots of work for surveyors and architects in the next few months and a tidy amount of tax for the Govt. (See "splitpersonalities" post on this subject for applicable fees at the coast)
Just what all need in the depths of a recession! Another tax bill.
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Post by splitpersonality on Aug 26, 2011 12:27:38 GMT 1
Totally beat you to it  |
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Post by riki on Aug 27, 2011 9:47:47 GMT 1
Thanks for the info. I suppose everyone should check their properties in case they don't have a building permit. If you want to sell one day, you won't be able to.
Where do you get a copy of the building permit, if one exists?
What will happen to properties that are exempt from amnesty (ie built on agricultural land) and cannot be legalised?
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Post by Madgolfer on Aug 27, 2011 10:59:26 GMT 1
Armed with a katastar plan and ABC form you can check if your property has a building permit at your local space planning/gruntovnica office. Properties built before 1968 are exempt.
The new law does allow properties built on agricultural land to be legalised, so if you have a barn, wine house, outbuilding etc (but not a house for living in) you can still get a building permit.
It might not be essential now, but anyone thinking about converting buildings for tourism at some point in the future might want to do so.
It can get expensive though as building permits are only issued after payment of the building taxes; which are based on cubic metres and not square metres, so barns can be huge!
Around this way residential properties are taxed at approx 8kn per cubic metre, business premises are somewhat higher and agricultural buildings slightly lower and rates do vary around the country. Attic spaces also count when you are adding everything up.
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Post by prkbrk on Aug 27, 2011 17:13:42 GMT 1
What about the thousands of properties that have building permission, but never actually 'acquired' their Usage Permit, whether it was pre or post builds 1990 (ish). Are they considered to be illegal- if so then 80% of my area are 'in trouble' and the locals will ignore this IMO, mainly as they will see the property to be in the family for ever. And the fact that after Dec 2012 it will be impossible is just a scaremonger from the govt to raise cash.
There will be court cases galore beyond that, say for properties that have been built for 20 years or so, but did not have all the paperwork. The fact folk have paid communal taxes, etc, etc on such will actually 'grandfather' them in under the so called 20 year rule
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Post by Madgolfer on Aug 28, 2011 8:58:01 GMT 1
Our "GUESS" is that after the DEC 2102 deadline they will then offer or impose some sort of penalty charge for issuing back dated building permits.
Do it know and you get a building permit at the standard rate, after the deadline you may have to pay the current rates plus a penalty charge. But that is only a guess! Its the only way we can think of to get around the problem.
There are just too many properties without building permits etc, even if they started today you just couldn't physically get them all done in time.
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Post by crojoe on Aug 28, 2011 11:43:24 GMT 1
Just got back from 5 days on the coast for breather and just wonderful. I'd suggest it for any of us spending to much time in the big city. But, yes and there is a but..., ran into that lovely Dalmatians hospitality, more like "forgive me for living" attitude. Got blasted twice in 5 days by some local not happy with me walking the dog (on a leash / guess I need to keep the wild beast locked up in a 1x1 meter galvanised cage in the scorching heat?). Problem our dog is such a cute little doggy that is a house dog, plays with my kids and never hurt a fly (ok, maybe a few flies). Then, a couple of times I had to stand around waiting big time to look at a menu (with no show or service), so walked on (guess business is so good they can pick and choose their customers).
Anyway, to stay on topic, was talking with our host about this very subject and they told me that half the houses in the coastal village we where at where illegal structures. She told me that they did a similar amnesty about 15 years back, so guess they are trying it again.
Croatian courts are also establishing a Bailiff division, hiring 100 tough guys. Funny thing is they will have 20 of them for Zagreb, and then some of the other cities and towns get like 5 to 10, and many just 1 dude. I really wonder what 20 bailiffs can do in a city of 800,000? I bet there will be some trading of envelopes once this new department gets going in Jan 2012.
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Post by Madgolfer on Aug 31, 2011 12:34:22 GMT 1
Regarding our previous post where we stated that; We understand that once your application is in and has been accepted you will be OK so don’t hang around. This is absolutely NOT NOT NOT the case! As of this week ANY AND ALL PROPERTY SALES CONTRACTS MUST HAVE ALL PAPERS (BUILDING PERMITS, STABILITY/STRUCTURAL APPROVAL AND USAGE PERMITS) ATTACHED. OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE ILLEGAL.So you can effectively write off 95% of real estate sales for the foreseeable future. No more 5 % RETT for the Govt as of today! Well theres a surprise! Yet another example of Croatian law makers writting a completely idiotic piece of legislation that effectively pulls the rug out from under the feet of an already struggling industry. Madness!  Challenges are already being discussed to put before the constitutional courts, but how many months will that take? I am sure they wrote this legislation with very good intentions in trying to legalise all real estate in Croatia, to which we are in full agreement. But to stop the real estate industry in its tracks overnight...............makes me want to cry.  Thankfully from our point of view, properties built before 1968 and clean land plots are exempt from the new law, Phew! ;D |
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Post by Madgolfer on Oct 6, 2011 6:44:24 GMT 1
Having waited several weeks for our local planning officers to attend a meeting in Zagreb where they would learn how to implement this new law, guess what........ We went to see them yesterday to make an application to legalise a building and they had no idea what we were talking about! No idea how to do it at all. "Could we come back next year" was the basic answer. So now what? Watch this space........ |
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Post by Madgolfer on Feb 24, 2012 13:41:32 GMT 1
Following on from my last post above, well it is now "next year" and as of today no one still has any idea how to issue a building permit under this new legislation.  We have 4 deals on our desk one of which dates back to August 2011 which involve a total of €11,260euros in RETT payable to the government which I cannot give them until the sales have gone through. Today's words of wisdom from the planning office is; "Go see an architect or a surveyor, they may be able to help" Defies belief....... |
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Post by gmh on Feb 24, 2012 18:57:09 GMT 1
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Post by janskov on Feb 24, 2012 20:58:59 GMT 1
I Have been running around for three years to try to get usage permit for my house. After surveys and plans and payments, I have ended up with the following text in Katastar:
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Zaprimljeno 18.11.2011. broj Z-912/11
zabilje žuje se da je za nekretninu označenu kao čes.zem. 8116/63 u zk.ul. 2231 k.o. Metković priložena potvrda Upravnog odjela za prostorno uređenje, gradnju i zaštitu okoliša, Ispostava Metković klasa: 361-05/11-02/45, ur.br. 2117/1-23/4-2-11-2 od 17. studenog 2011.god., da se ne izdaje akt za uporabu (završno izvješće nadzornog inženjera je akt za uporabu, klasa: UP/I-361-03/10-02/84, ur.br. 2117/1-23/4-3-11-12 od 18. svibnja 2011.god.), čl.116 ZID ZPUG i čl. 22. ZPNIZ, (NN 90/11).
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Nobody has been able to explain exactly what it means, and I can't see it say usage permit anywhere, but the people who have helped and been paid well for it tells me just to relax and accept that this is as good as it gets.
I wonder is any of you wise people have seen something similar?
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Post by Madgolfer on Feb 25, 2012 1:40:53 GMT 1
That's taken him 8 months of persistence and 30,000kn to legalize a shed!  So much for the cheap and simple process they promised. Imagine the likely costs for a full sized house. I know the gov needs to generate tax income but this is ludicrous. |
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Post by janskov on Feb 25, 2012 12:04:08 GMT 1
January. Thank you. I didn't know how to find that entry in the land registry.
I already made use of Google, which didn't leave me much wiser. What I would have liked to see was the words uporabne dozvole.
Would this entry prove that there is a usage permit?
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Post by janskov on Mar 1, 2012 12:09:17 GMT 1
I asked a solicitor, and he told me that the final report of the building engineer - which is what I have - has the same effect as a usage permit.
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