The new Construction Act, effective from 1 April 2025, brings a fundamental reform of building 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 It replaces the previous outdated law from 1976 and introduces a unified permitting procedure that combines zoning and construction procedures into one process.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 buildings – older illegal buildings will be able to be legalized under certain conditions, but newly constructed unauthorized buildings 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 Building Act

The old Building Code was in force without any major renovation for almost 50 years, which led to many outdated regulations and inefficiencies in the construction process.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.

The most significant changes in the new law include:

1. Single integrated procedure – instead of separate zoning decision and building permit (details below).
2. 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.
3. Digitalization of the construction agenda – it is planned to submit applications and documentation electronically, which should reduce the amount of paperwork
4. Increasing the efficiency of building authorities – the law leaves building 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).
5. 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” buildings will have to be removed if the investor does not obtain the proper permits.
6. Relaxation of the regime for small buildings – the range of smaller buildings 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 buildings up to 25 m², this limit has now been increased to approximately 50 m².
7. 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.

The new Building 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.