Will the new technical conditions for buildings make investment processes more difficult for developers (part III)?

As of 1 August 2024, the Ordinance of the Minister of Development and Technology of 27 October 2023 amending the Ordinance on the technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location, as amended by the Ordinance of the Minister of Development and Technology of 27 March 2024, enters into force. It introduces a number of changes that are significant from the point of view of, first of all, entities involved in multi-family residential construction.

The first publication in this series can be found here, while the second can be found here.

A new regulation has been introduced concerning the minimum usable area of a commercial unit, which should have a usable area of not less than 25 m2, however, it has been allowed to separate a commercial unit with a smaller usable area if it is located on the first or second above-ground storey and has direct access from the outside of the building. Two exceptions to the general rule have also been introduced, i.e. with regard to utility premises located in collective residence buildings or single-family residential buildings in which a utility premise has been separated and in buildings for which, before 1 August 2024, a construction permit decision has been issued or a notification of construction has been filed, to which the architectural and construction administration authority has not raised an objection or a certificate of no grounds for objection has been issued.

The legislator has expanded the concept of hygiene and sanitary premises, to which rooms adapted and intended exclusively for feeding and changing of babies and rooms adapted and intended for changing of adult persons with special needs have been added. The requirements for separation of rooms adapted and intended exclusively for feeding and changing babies and rooms adapted and intended for changing adults with special needs have also been extended.

The legislator has introduced new requirements concerning the need to install a vertical separation in the form of a fixed partition with specified parameters between the balconies of adjacent residential units in a multi-family residential building located on a single balcony slab and between adjacent loggias in a multi-family residential building.

A requirement has been introduced for a multi-family residential building to provide a utility room for the storage of bicycles and pushchairs with certain parameters and location, with the possibility of meeting this requirement in the form of a utility building, arbour or shed.

A sound insulation requirement of not less than 37 dB has been introduced for the entrance door to a flat from a staircase or general circulation corridor in residential buildings, collective dwellings and public buildings, with the exception of buildings for which specific noise protection requirements must be met. Acoustic requirements have also been introduced for internal walls and ceilings separating residential units in a single-family residential building as for partitions between residential units in a multi-family residential building, as specified in the Polish Standard concerning the required acoustic insulation of partitions in buildings.

The new regulations apply to all investments unless, for an investment project before 1 August 2024:

• an application for a building permit, an application for the issuance of a separate decision on the approval of a plot or land development project or an architectural and construction project, an application for the amendment of a building permit has been submitted,
• a decision on the building permit or a separate decision on approval of the land or land development project or architectural-construction project has been issued,
• a notification of construction or performance of other construction works has been submitted, in the event that a decision on a construction permit is not required,

– a decision on legalisation has been issued, referred to in Article 49, section 4 of the Act of 7 July 1994. – Construction Law, and the decisions referred to in Article 51, paragraph 4 of the Act of 7 July 1994. – Construction Law.