Building permit – procedure

Before the New Law, obtaining a building permit was divided into 3 formal steps:

*obtaining an act on urban conditions or a plot extract

*obtaining a building permit based on a conceptual design

*obtaining a confirmation of receipt of the documentation for the application for works based on the main design.

With the New Law, this procedure has been shortened to 2 formal steps: *obtaining a location permit, based on the conceptual design of the facility *obtaining a building permit based on the main design.

After obtaining a location permit, it is necessary to prepare complete project documentation on the basis of which a building permit is obtained. The project must be carried out in accordance with the construction rules specified in the location permit. According to the New Law, this step is the main one and takes the longest to complete.

After obtaining a location permit, it is necessary to prepare complete project documentation on the basis of which a building permit is obtained. The project must be carried out in accordance with the construction rules specified in the location permit. According to the New Law, this step is the main one and takes the longest to complete.

1 – Location information

The first step is to obtain information about the location where construction is planned. According to the New Law, the formal “deed of urban conditions” or the so-called “extract from the urban plan” has been replaced with an informal document called “location information”.

This document contains all the necessary information about the plot. There are other ways to obtain information about the plot (such as using online tools) and location information is not a mandatory document. It is good to have it in any case in order to see the conditions for forming a construction plot and to be able to request technical conditions for designing infrastructure connections (see below).

2 – Property rights

In order to have the basis to build on the plot, it is necessary to have a document on the ownership of the plot. Under the New Law, usage rights are converted into property rights. So there are three ways to prove your right to a plot:

*Usage right: this is the most common case now since people have not yet converted their usage rights into ownership rights (under the New Law). You need to get a title deed. The title deed was previously issued by the land registry department of the Second Municipal Court, but most municipalities have now moved it to the Real Estate Cadastre Service of the Republic Geodetic Authority.

*Private ownership: this is a novelty enabled by the New Law.

*Lease right: this is a contract for renting land for a certain period of time.

3 – Formation of a building plot

The location information document states whether the cadastral plot meets the requirements for a building plot. If so, this is the simplest case where the building plot coincides with the cadastral plot without additional work. There are other variants where the situation is more complicated: the cadastral plot does not have direct access to a public road, and the boundaries of the plot need to be corrected. Correction of plot boundaries is mandatory if it provides the necessary access to a public road; a cadastral plot should be divided into several construction plots; several cadastral plots should be united into one construction plot. In all these cases, a reparcelling and subdivision project or an urban design project should be prepared.

Finally, regardless of whether or not an urban design is to be done, a construction plot must be formed. For this work, a licensed geodetic company must record the plot and make a geodetic survey. They will submit the survey to the Republic Geodetic Authority in order to obtain a report on the formation of a construction plot.

4 – Conversion of land from agricultural to construction

In the suburbs of Belgrade, there is still a lot of land that is registered as agricultural land and that has become construction land with the development of the city and the preparation of new urban plans. However, until this land is built on, it retains its agricultural land class. In order for the land to be built on, its purpose must first be changed and of course the fee for the change of purpose must be paid. This change of purpose must be done before submitting the application for a location permit.

5 – Obtaining technical requirements for the design of the infrastructure connection

This step is not strictly necessary before submitting the application for a location permit, but it is interesting to do it for two reasons:

-to speed up the procedure for obtaining the requirements earlier

-to see the connection options and anticipate the costs that may be associated with the connection.

To obtain these technical requirements, you need to submit separate requests to each utility company that has a connection to the plot (connection to the electricity grid, water supply, sewage, gas, district heating, city cleaning, etc.).

6 – Removal of existing buildings on the plot

If there are one or more buildings on the construction plot that need to be removed for the purpose of new construction, a project for the removal of the building must be prepared and submitted. This is most often done before obtaining a location permit because the removal of existing buildings takes time and may be necessary due to other preparatory works on the plot.

The removal of buildings is defined in Article 168 of the New Law. Together with the request for removal, you must submit:

*the main demolition project in triplicate;

*proof of ownership of the building;

*special conditions, if it is a building whose demolition would endanger the public interest (protection of existing and other infrastructure, protection of cultural property, environmental protection, etc.).

The permit for the removal of the building will be issued within 15 days from the date of submission of the request.

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