Summary of changes brought about by the new wording of the Building Act IV.

In order to harmonize the changes brought about by the completely new wording of the Construction Act, more than 70 laws were amended and modified within the framework of the government's draft law on amendments to certain laws to meet the needs of the new Construction Act, to ensure continuity in the construction sector.
The new construction law also brought changes to the following legal regulations:
Act No. 371/2021 Coll. on significant investments
- significant investment is an investment project, the implementation of which is ensured primarily by a legal entity founded by the state, a higher territorial unit or a municipality, if the government has decided on this investment project;
- certificate of significant investment is issued by the relevant ministry within 14 days from the date of approval of the proposal by the government;
- this certificate also forms one of the bases for the expropriation of real estate on which this significant investment is to be implemented;
- for the implementation of a significant investment, it is often necessary in the public interest to limit ownership and other rights to the affected real estate on which the investment is to be implemented;
- these lands are transferred to the certificate holder based on the procedure established by law;
- under the new construction law, on the date of registration of the certificate holder's ownership right to the real estate specified in the certificate in the real estate cadastre, the rights of third parties to them, except for statutory encumbrances, cease and the certificate holder is thus entitled to vacate the real estate in question;
- the property damage of third parties resulting from the termination of their rights to the real estate specified in the certificate shall be compensated by the certificate holder, unless the contract by which the affected real estate was transferred to the certificate holder provides otherwise;
- if the rights of third parties to the real estate specified in the certificate arose only after the certificate was issued and without the consent of the certificate holder, the property damage shall be compensated by the person who established or enabled the establishment of third party rights to the real estate in question;
- on the date of issue of the certificate of significant investment, all rights, except for statutory encumbrances, of third parties to the real estate listed in the certificate and which are also owned by the certificate holder shall automatically cease;
- the property damage of these third parties resulting from the termination of their rights shall be compensated by the certificate holder;
- the termination of the rights of third parties affected by the implementation of the significant investment shall only occur if the registration of the certificate holder's ownership right in the real estate cadastre is carried out on the basis of a certificate of significant investment issued after 1 March 2025.
Act No. 452/2021 Coll. on Electronic Communications, as amended
- the Electronic Communications Act is a fundamental piece of legislation in the regulatory framework for the provision of electronic communications networks and related services, as well as, last but not least, in the area of building these networks and access to them;
- within the framework of the establishment and operation of public communications networks, their lines and associated facilities, it is possible, under the conditions set out by law, to build and place their lines on and in another person's real estate during their construction, or to cross another person's real estate with them, in the interest of making these networks accessible to the largest possible range of entities;
- for this purpose, an agreement with the land owner is necessary, the subject of which is the scope of rights and restrictions on the use of the land or real estate;
- in the event of such a restriction of ownership rights, the land owner shall be entitled to appropriate compensation for the restriction on the usual use of the real estate;
- If it is not possible to reach an agreement with the land owner, the fulfillment of the conditions for the restriction in usual use, from 1 April 2025, shall be assessed by the competent building authority at the proposal of any party to the agreement, and if there is none, then in a separate proceeding by the regional office of the Office for Spatial Planning and Construction in whose district the affected property is located;
- if the amount of compensation due to the land owner for the restriction of his rights is disputed, the competent authority may also decide on the amount;
- when making a decision, the competent authority may merge the proceedings relating to one linear structure into a joint proceeding and, if necessary to maintain the principle of economy, may exclude the part of the proceedings relating to one or more owners for a separate proceeding;
- the enterprise is obliged, upon the request of the competent authority, to provide an expert opinion at its own expense for the purposes of determining the amount of appropriate compensation for the restriction in usual use of the property;
- From April 1, 2025, neither a decision on a construction plan nor a notification is required for the construction modification of an existing overhead line structure of a line, which consists in the addition of a new overhead cable or other line element, if it does not change the line route and its protective zone;
- persons affected by line structures of a line should be careful to exercise their rights and interests in a timely manner, since from April 1, 2025, the construction manager of a line structure of a line for which a decision on a construction plan has been issued will be entitled to convene a control inspection of the structure after the completion of construction work, the purpose of which is to verify whether the structure was implemented in accordance with the verified construction project. If the control inspection determines that the structure was built in accordance with the verified construction project, the approval of such a structure according to the Construction Act will not be required;
- The newly introduced fiction of compliance of the construction of electronic communication networks and temporary electronic communication networks with legal regulations also becomes a new one, if these were constructed by 31 March 2025 without a building permit or in violation thereof, after ten years from the date of their construction, but not earlier than 1 April 2025;
- the above-mentioned rule applies if:
- the electronic communication networks are also continuously used for their intended purpose,
- their removal has not been legally ordered within ten years from the date of their construction and
- the owner of the structure is also the owner of the land on which such a structure is built, as of the date of the expiry of the tenth year from the date of their construction, or has another right to the land on which such a structure is built.