Building permit
To commence construction you need a final and effective building permit
Building permit is issued by the competent municipal or county offices for construction and physical planning depending on the place where the construction or reconstruction of the facility is planned. The list of competent offices is available on the website of the Ministry of physical planning, Construction and State assets.
List of competent offices
Application for a building permit
The application for the issuance of a building permit shall be submitted electronically or in the competent administrative body depending on the location where the construction or reconstruction of the building is planned.
The ePermit service enables building permits to be issued according to uniform procedures throughout the Republic of Croatia, and the dynamics of issuing permits depend on the organization of county and city authorities.
Applicants can electronically complete all necessary data through the ePermit - Dealing with Construction Permits, add annexes and projects, and can be seen at any time at what stage the request is addressed.
Fill in the request for the issuance of a building permit through the ePermit - Dealing with Construction Permits
The application for a building permit shall be accompanied by:
- main project in electronic form
- Principal Principal Design certified by the Designer and Principal Designer if several designers participated in its design
- a written report on the control of the main project, if the control is prescribed;
- certificate of nostrification of the main project, if the project is prepared in accordance with foreign regulations;
- proof of legal interest in issuing a building permit;
- proof that the investor can build a building for which a special law prescribes who may be the investor (concession, approval or other act prescribed by a special Regulation);
- environmental impact assessment and/or project acceptability assessment for the ecological network, if required by special regulations;
- proof that the owner of the building land has fulfilled his duty of transferring part of the land to the ownership of the local self-government unit, i.e. the duty of concluding the contract for establishing the service of transit and/or passage, prescribed by a special law governing physical planning, if such duty exists;
- elaboration of alternative energy supply systems (for a building that has to meet energy efficiency requirements)
Main project
The main design represents a set of mutually compliant projects that provide a technical design of the structure and prove fulfilment of basic requirements for the structure and other prescribed and specified requirements and requirements. The main design shall be prepared by certified architects and certified engineers. The list of certified architects and certified engineers can be found on the website of the Ministry of physical planning, Construction and State assets. Depending on the type of structure or works, the main project contains an architectural project, a construction project, an electrotechnical project and a mechanical project. In addition to the main design, a separate part of the main design is a geodetic design showing the location of one or more buildings on the building plot and the shape and size of the building plot, the formation of which is determined by the building permit.
The list of designers is available through the ePermit service and on the website of the Croatian Chamber of Architects, the Croatian Chamber of Civil Engineers, the Croatian Chamber of Electrical Engineers, the Croatian Chamber of Mechanical Engineers and the Croatian Chamber of Chartered Geodetic Engineers.
The investor or the designer may request the competent administrative authority to inform it from which public law bodies it is necessary to obtain special conditions according to which the main project for a particular building must be prepared at a specific location and the manner of implementation of the Construction Act and/or certain provisions of the spatial plan. The list of public law bodies can be found on the website of the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets - competent administrative bodies.
Legal interest
As the building permit has no legal effect on the ownership and other real rights on the property for which it was issued and does not represent grounds for the possession of that property, it is sufficient to prove legal interest for its issuing.The following documents are considered evidence of legal interest:
- land registry extract indicating that the investor is the owner, or the holder of the right to build on the building plot or the construction work intended for construction
- pre-contract, contract or conditional contract pursuant to which the investor has acquired or shall acquire the ownership right or building right
- decision issued by the competent authority pursuant to which the investor has acquired the ownership right or building right
- partnership contract concluded with the owner of the property, the aim of which is joint construction
- written approval given by the land owner or the owner of the existing construction work
- written approval given by the fiduciary owner to the previous property owner who is the investor.
Issuing of a building permit
A building permit shall be issued after the procedure in which the requirements for its issuance are verified. During the building permit issuing procedure, it is established that:- all the prescribed documents have been submitted along with the application and all prescribed main design certificates have been issued
- as regards the location requirements, the main design has been developed in conformity with the requirements for implementing the project prescribed by the spatial plan
- the main design has been developed by an authorised person
- the main design is properly marked
- the main design is developed in such a manner so as to prevent any modification of its contents or any replacement of its constituent parts
- the urban development plan has been adopted, provided that the permit is issued in an area where a special act prescribes its adoption.
A building permit for a building shall be issued provided that all the above indicated requirements have been fulfilled and that it is possible to connect the building plot or the building to the traffic area, or that the building permit for the construction of the traffic area has been issued; furthermore, that it is possible to connect the building to the public waste water drainage system, if the spatial plan does not allow the connection to its own drainage system, and that it is possible to connect the building to a low-voltage electricity supply network or, in the case of a building in which the use of such a system is designed, the building has an autonomous electricity supply system.
The competent office that issued the building permit shall deliver it (without the main design), for information purposes, also to the administrative body of the local self-government unit competent for determining utility charges with the data required for the calculation of those charges, and to the body competent for determining water charges with the data required for the calculation of those charges.
If neither an appeal is lodged nor an administrative dispute is initiated, the building permit becomes final and effective.
After the building permit became final and effective, the investor shall pay utility and water charges in accordance with special regulations.
You can find information about the amount of utility charges on the website of the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets
Utility charges.
You can find information about water charges on the website of the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets
Water charges.
A building permit shall cease to be valid if, within three years from the date it became final and effective, the investor fails to commence construction. The validity of the building permit may be, at the request of the investor, extended once for three more years, provided that the requirements for implementing the project prescribed by the spatial plan have not changed. During this period, the investor shall, not later than eight days before the commencement of construction, submit a written notification thereof to the building control authority.
Amendments to the building permit
If, during construction of a construction work not subject to the issuing of a location permit under a special act, the location requirements are amended, it is required to obtain a decision on amendments to the building permit from the competent construction and physical planning office; the said decision shall be adopted in accordance with the spatial plan under which the building permit was issued, or in accordance with the spatial plan in force at the time of adopting the decision, if so requested by the investor.Only those special requirements or main design certificates which are affected by amendments shall be obtained in the procedure for issuing the decision on amendments to the building permit, and the facts established in the procedure for issuing the permit shall not be reviewed. If the amendments pertain to the external size of the construction work, size and shape of the building plot or location of the construction work, the building control authority shall provide the parties with the opportunity to access the case file in order to provide an opinion.
Change of the investor
If the investor should change during construction, the new investor shall, within fifteen days from the date of the change of the investor, request the building control authority to amend the building permit relating to the change of the investor’s name or corporate name. Along with his application for change of the investor's name, he shall provide evidence of legal interest for the issuance of the building permit or approval of the previous investor, and evidence that he may be the investor (concession, approval or other official act prescribed by a special regulation) in the case of a construction work for which a special act prescribes who the investor may be.A construction work for which the building permit was issued may not be constructed without the decision on the change of the investor’s name or corporate name in the building permit.