On 10 October 2024, the draft law n°8369 (the “Draft Amendment Law”) amending the amended Law of 19 July 2004 on municipal planning and urban development (the “Municipal Planning and Urban Development Law”), which aims to extend the initial period of validity of building permits from one year to two years, has been voted.
Background
Following the National Housing Meeting, held on 22 February 2024 to discuss measures to remedy the slowdown in activity in the real estate sector, the Minister of Home Affairs presented initial proposals for administrative simplification with the aim of speeding up town planning procedures. The Draft Amendment Law was a first step in this direction.
The reform adopted
With the Draft Law, Article 37 of the Municipal Planning and Urban Development Law shall be amended to set the initial validity period of building permits at two years, instead of one. However, this authorisation can only be renewed once, for a maximum period of one year, bringing the total period of validity to a maximum of three years.
The new mechanism therefore doubles the amount of time available under existing legislation for the applicant to commence works in a meaningful way. Jurisprudence has clarified that the criterion of work undertaken in a meaningful way is constituted by the first act of execution that is carried out on the site, provided that the work undertaken is of sufficient importance.
Criticisms of the Draft Law
The proposed measure was welcomed by all the organisations who were consulted during the drafting of the Draft Law. Some, however, regretted that the extension was only for one year and not two. It is true that even if the initial validity period of building permits is extended, the total effective period remains the same, i.e. three years (new initial validity period of two years with the possibility of extending it once for one year, as opposed to the previous validity period of one year with the possibility of extending it twice, each time for one year).
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