Legal Highlights for Real Estate – September 2024
Amendment to the Act on Suspension of the Sale of Real Property of the Agricultural Property Stock of the Treasury in Connection with the Land Use Planning Reform
At the end of August, the Act of 24 July 2024 amending the Act on the Management of Agricultural Property of the State Treasury and the Act on Suspension of the Sale of Real Property of the Agricultural Property of the State Treasury and Amending Certain Acts (the “Amendment”) entered into force. The enactment of the Amendment was dictated by the need to adapt the Act of 14 April 2016 on the suspension of the sale of properties of the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury and on the amendment of certain acts (the “Act”) to last year’s spatial planning reform.
It should be remembered that the sale of agricultural properties from the State Treasury stock is prohibited until 30 April 2026. Pursuant to Article 1 of the Act, the sale of real property, parts of real property and interests in co-ownership of real property belonging to this stock is suspended for a period of 10 years from the date of its entry into force.
However, the Act provided for exceptions to the aforementioned prohibition. Among others, irrespective of the area of land, the prohibition on disposal does not apply to real property which: are intended for purposes other than agricultural in: (i) local spatial development plans; or (ii) decisions on development conditions.
Pursuant to the Amendment, a general plan was added to the above catalogue of planning acts exempting from the prohibition on sale. The general plan is a new planning instrument to replace the zoning study. By 31 December 2025 at the latest, all zoning studies will expire and general plans are to be adopted in their place.
The amendment also provides for an important regulation of a transitional nature: until the date of entry into force of a general plan in a given municipality, the study in force in that municipality is deemed to be such a general plan. This is an important provision that may extend the possibility to acquire state-owned agricultural land before the expiry of the 10-year prohibition period.
Draft amendments to the Construction Law – facilitation of the change of use of a building object
Any change of use of a building or part of a building, deviating from the originally designed purpose, must be notified to the relevant authorities and assessed from the perspective of acceptability, taking into account the existing planning act applicable to the building in question. An unlawful change of use of a structure may result in the suspension of the use of the structure and, in extreme cases, in an order to restore the previous use of the structure.
Currently, the key document to be obtained in the process of applying for a change in the manner of use of a building object or its part is a certificate issued by the competent municipal planning authority on the compliance of the intended change with the planning act. Pursuant to Article 71(2)(4) of the Construction Law, the notification of a change in the manner of use of building object must be accompanied, inter alia, by a certificate or a copy of a certificate issued by the head of the commune, mayor or president of the municipality/city on the compliance of the intended manner of use of the building object with the provisions of the local spatial development plan in force or by a decision on land development conditions or a copy of that decision, if there is no local spatial development plan in force.
The notification of the change of use of a building object is submitted to the architectural and construction administration authority, which in some cases leads to unnecessary ‘duplication’ of the authority’s work, as the same authority issues both the certificate of conformity and accepts the notification of the change of use. This situation applies to cities with county rights (pl: miasto na prawach powiatu), where the president of the city is both the planning and building authority. An unnecessary prolongation of the procedure also occurs when the planning authority is the starost. This is because it has to rely on the document issued by the mayor of the city, whereas the planning acts are known to the authorities ex officio.
The Commission’s draft law on amending the Construction Law (Parliamentary print no. 444; the “Draft”), which was submitted to the Sejm on 9 May 2024, aims to simplify this procedure. According to the proposed amendment, a certificate of the mayor (town mayor, president) on the compliance of the use of the object with the planning act will no longer be required. The investor is to be obliged only to attach to the notification a decision on development conditions, in the absence of a local plan for the area. The amendment is therefore intended to remove an unnecessary formal requirement.
The Draft is currently being processed in the Sejm. On 11 September 2024, the Sejm received the government’s position, which is positive.
