New Building Code from April 2025 – what good and what bad to expect
New Construction Act from April 2025: major changes in construction procedures and impacts on business
The new Construction Act, effective from 1 April 2025, brings a fundamental reform of construction procedures in Slovakia after almost 50 years. It replaces the previous outdated law from 1976 and introduces a unified permitting procedure that combines zoning and construction procedures into one process.
The processing of building permits is expected to be accelerated and simplified thanks to fixed deadlines, the fiction of consent (automatic approval in the event of inaction by authorities), and planned digitalization.
The law tightens the rules for illegal constructions – older illegal constructions will be able to be legalized under certain conditions, but newly constructed unauthorized constructions will no longer be allowed to be legally built and will be ordered to be removed.
Transitional provisions apply to ongoing proceedings under the old law, so most current projects will still be processed under the original rules. In this article, we discuss the most significant changes and their practical impacts on entrepreneurs and developers.
The most significant changes compared to the old Construction Act
The old Construction Act was in force without any major renovation for almost 50 years, which led to many outdated regulations and inefficiencies in the construction process. The new law sets a bold goal to modernize these processes – to simplify and speed up building permits and introduce elements of digitalization.
For construction entrepreneurs and developers, this is an expected change that should respond to long-standing problems such as lengthy two-stage procedures, bureaucracy, and a benevolent approach to illegal construction.
The most significant changes in the new law include:
- Single integrated procedure – instead of separate zoning decision and building permit (details below).
- Fixed deadlines for authorities and the introduction of the fiction of consent – if the authority does not respond in time, it is considered to have consented. This eliminates the previous practice of “silence” by authorities, which often hindered projects.
- Digitalization of the construction agenda – it is planned to submit applications and documentation electronically, which should reduce the amount of paperwork
- Increasing the efficiency of construction authorities – the law leaves construction authorities in the municipalities but introduces qualification requirements for their employees and mechanisms in case of inaction (e.g. the possibility of transferring the procedure to another authority, albeit with restrictions).
- Tightening of rules for illegal constructions – the era of tolerance for unauthorized constructions is ending. The new law gives a chance to legalize older illegal constructions (if the conditions are met), but all new “unauthorized” buiuldings will have to be removed if the investor does not obtain the proper permits .
- Relaxation of the regime for small constructions – the range of smaller constructions that will not require a building permit, but only a notification to the authority is being expanded. While previously a notification was sufficient only for small constructions up to 25 m², this limit has now been increased to approximately 50 m².
- Adjustment of administrative fees – along with the licensing reform, there are also changes in fees. From 15 March 2025, administrative fees for actions under the old law have increased (since these procedures will still be catching up) and at the same time, from 1 April 2025, new fee rates for actions under the new law have been introduced.
One procedure instead of zoning and construction
The most fundamental change is the merger of the zoning procedure and the construction procedure into one process. While until now the investor had to first obtain a zoning decision on the location of the construction and then separately apply for a building permit, the new law introduces an integrated procedure for the construction plan. In practice, this means that the construction authority will assess the plan comprehensively – both from the point of view of the location of the construction (compliance with the zoning plan) and from the point of view of the construction-technical solution.
This unified process is to take place in two phases:
- First, the developer submits a construction plan and requests the issuance of a binding opinion on the construction plan;
- The construction authority will then issue a decision on the construction plan – this includes a building permit for both location and implementation. This eliminates the need to issue two different decisions in separate proceedings.
It is expected that the merger of procedures will significantly shorten the total time required to obtain a permit. For example, if today obtaining a zoning decision and subsequent building permit often takes several months (often 6–12 months in total), now an investor could have the permit “in their hands” in an extreme case within a month of submitting a complete application. However, this applies mainly to smaller projects in accordance with the zoning plan and without serious objections.
The integrated procedure will also simplify permits for projects that include multiple constructions, such as a so-called set of constructions. In this case, the construction “absorbs” other constructions, if they form a functional entity. This will eliminate the need to obtain a separate permit for each smaller construction on the premises. This is particularly advantageous for developers of larger projects, where today each extension or technical equipment may require separate permits.
Will building permits become faster and more efficient?
The key question for entrepreneurs is whether the new law will really speed up and make obtaining permits more efficient, or whether it is just cosmetic changes on paper.
The Ministry is optimistic and emphasizes that setting deadlines and introducing the fiction of consent will force authorities to act promptly. For example, the municipality (as the affected authority in the proceedings) will now have a 60-day limit to express its opinion – if it does not issue it in time, its consent will automatically be assumed . Similarly, other affected authorities (e.g. hygiene, firefighters) have a 30-day period.
This should eliminate situations where a project has been stuck on one stamp for an infinite time. Also, the cancellation of a separate appeal procedure when verifying project documentation (the approval process is changing) will save additional weeks, as it will no longer be an administrative procedure with the possibility of appeal .
The system should also include a certain brake against inaction by authorities: if the construction authority (at the municipality) does not issue a decision within the specified period, the builder can request a refund of the fee.
Another is a skeptical view. They point out that although the law sets deadlines, it also contains loopholes that can slow down the speed of proceedings in practice. For example, the law allows for the transfer of proceedings to another place only when the original authority has been inactive for at least 90 days, while this 90-day period only begins to run from the moment the authority stops performing any actions.
The authority can therefore continuously “revive” the proceedings for many months with small actions, thus avoiding a sanction for inaction. Moreover, the law does not say how long the superior authority has to decide on the change of jurisdiction – this can also prolong the process and the supervising authority itself can choose which subordinate authority to assign the case to.
Such loopholes raise concerns that in some more complex cases, proceedings will remain as lengthy as they are today. The law also fails to address potential and sometimes widespread bias in municipal construction authorities (e.g. political pressures at the local level) and does not contain strict sanctions for authorities that fail to meet deadlines, while imposing heavy fines on developers for violations.
Considering these arguments, it is likely that the real acceleration and streamlining of procedures will only become apparent in practice. However, for honest investors, the very establishment of rules is already a step towards the better – they will be able to refer to legal deadlines. Moreover, many smaller projects (which fall under announcements or merged procedures in accordance with the plan) should indeed undergo permitting faster than before. Larger and more controversial projects may continue to take a long time if ways are found to delay the process. In any case, the new law sends a signal that the state is aware of the need to accelerate construction – which is positive news for the construction sector and for foreign investors.
Illegal constructions: legalization or removal
A special chapter of the new law is the approach to illegal constructions (unauthorized constructions). While the previous legislation allowed for the so-called additional building permit (a builder could, under certain circumstances, retroactively legalize a construction built without a permit, usually for a fee and a fine), the new law is stricter.
For existing illegal constructions built in the past, the law introduces a transitional period and a mechanism for additional legalization. In principle, structures built before a certain date will be able to be brought into compliance with the law subsequently, for structures built until 31 March 2024.
This is an additional construction approval: the construction authority will assess whether the construction meets all safety, technical and territorial conditions, and if so, will issue a decision on the construction’s suitability for use (which has the same weight as the construction approval decision). However, only constructions that have settled land and are in accordance with the zoning plan will be granted this option.
It will therefore not be possible to legalize a construction built “illegally” on someone else’s land or, for example, in a protected area or where urban planning regulations do not allow it. The law even automatically considers all very old constructions (built before 1 October 1976) to be legal.
However, after the transition period, a fundamental change will occur: No new unauthorized constructions will be able to be legalized later. Anything built “illegally” after the new law comes into effect will no longer be given a chance for an additional permit; instead, the construction authority will order the removal of such a construction.
The previous benevolence created unequal conditions in the market – while honest developers and builders spent time and money to obtain permits, others built illegally and “somehow” fixed it up afterwards, often at lower costs. This favored speculators and undermined trust in the rule of law. In addition, many illegal constructions did not have to meet standards and posed a threat to safety or the environment.
The new law should improve the environment. Of course, the success of this reform will also depend on consistent control and enforcement – construction authorities will have to actively monitor the terrain so that illegal construction does not actually arise. And I think that this is where the biggest complication may lie in whether the law will be successful in illegal construction.
Ongoing procedures and transitional provisions
In principle, proceedings initiated before 31 March 2025 will be completed according to the old law. If the developer has applied or at least started zoning proceedings before this date, the entire permitting process for the given construction (including the subsequent building permit and final approval) will be completed according to Act No. 50/1976 Coll. as amended until 31 March 2025.
In other words, the new law will not be applied retroactively to development projects already under construction or applications submitted. All constructions for which zoning proceedings have at least begun before the new regulation comes into effect will be ” permitted ” until the final approval according to the current legislation. The same applies to various specific proceedings – for example, proceedings for the removal of a construction, proceedings for violations or fines initiated before 1 April 2025 will be completed according to the old regulations.
Also, if a zoning decision was issued under the old law, the subsequent application for a building permit is still assessed under the old regime. This means that if a developer already has a project underway in the permitting process, they will not have to rework the documentation or applications according to the new requirements – they will catch up according to the original rules.
On the other hand, new applications from 1 April 2025 must already comply with the new law. Developers will therefore have to familiarize themselves with new forms, documentation requirements (e.g. a construction plan instead of a project for zoning proceedings) and prepare for electronic communication with authorities. The transition period means in practice that two construction procedure regimes will exist in parallel for a certain period.
Conclusion: Impacts on entrepreneurs and developers
The new Construction Act brings significant news for the business environment in the construction industry, which may positively affect investment projects in Slovakia. The merger of procedures and strict deadlines should increase the speed with which builders obtain permits. Digitalization and the possibility of communicating with authorities online, in turn, promise to reduce the administrative burden, which will be appreciated especially by larger companies managing multiple permits at once.
On the other hand, practice will show to what extent these goals will be achieved. Some concerns remain whether local construction authorities will be able to handle the transition and will not circumvent the new rules with lengthy procedures.
However, as experts emphasize, implementation in practice will be important – from the willingness of authorities to adapt to new procedures, through the functionality of electronic systems, to the actual enforcement of the rules. In any case, from April 2025, Slovak construction law is entering a new era, and entrepreneurs should be prepared for it.
