Hungary: new building permit rules

The new rules were introduced by Government decree and replace most provisions of the ministerial decree that has regulated this subject since 2007.

The key elements of the new system are:

• the permit rules for unlawfully constructed buildings have been clarified; for example, as to what the authority must inspect and what happens if the constructor does not pay the fine
• constructors can obtain a preliminary and actual building permit under a combined procedure or request them separately
• the rules relating to plot division are still regulated by the old decree
• the deadline for issuing a building permit has been reduced to 45 working days even for the most complicated types of construction (specified in the decree) and is 10 or 22 working days for simpler buildings
• the general deadline for issuing an occupancy permit is 22 working days
• the authority supervising construction is subject to new procedural rules under which it has to examine whether all permits and announcements are in order and all laws have been observed. This aims to shed light on anomalous constructions
• the so-called obligation and execution procedure has been simplified

From 1 January 2010, new integrated procedures are also being introduced for construction work at military establishments and for significant investments individually selected by the Government. These will involve:

• a cooperating authority coordinating permits for all the different types of buildings to be built in the investment, and also coordinating the involvement of other authorities outside the construction process
• constructors seeking a building permit being able to follow an integrated impact assessment procedure which could include a preliminary building permit as well

Law: Decree No. 193/2009 (IX.15)