Annulment of the Final Building Permit
The previously applicable Construction Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 102/04, »ZGO-1«) stated that a building permit ceases to be valid, if the investor does not begin the construction of the building in a specific period following the finality of the building permit (depending on the complexity of the building). The new Construction Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 61/17, »GZ«), is applicable since 1 June 2018, includes a new provision in the third paragraph of Article 48, which states that an already issued building permit may also be annulled at the request of the investor.
Therefore, the investor has the option to withdraw from an already issued building permit without stating a reason. The investor may do this no later than 5 years since the finality of the building permit, even if it was issued pursuant to ZGO-1.
As the payment of the public utilities charge is a requirement to obtain the building permit, a very important question arises as to what happens to the already paid public utilities charge in the event of an application for the annulment of the building permit by the investor. The answer can be found in the Spatial Management Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 61/17, »ZUreP-2«), applicable since 1 June 2018. The aforementioned act provides that the investor is entitled to the repayment of the public utilities charge, if it was paid for an already existing municipal infrastructure. The investor is not entitled to the repayment the public utilities charge was paid for the new municipal infrastructure; the payment will be taken into consideration at the next public utilities charge assessment for the same land.
In case the amendment of the building permit is not possible and the investor wishes to obtain a new building permit (or proceed with construction at a different location) for whatever reason, they can now terminate the validity of the building permit. Under specific conditions, they may also receive the public utilities charge or the said charge may be taken into consideration when obtaining the new building permit.
