One can sense that the new Law on Legalization, just like all the previous ones, will actually only encourage illegal construction. Perhaps the biggest problem is the legalization of buildings whose stability is questionable
Proposal for a new Law on Legalization it should be published on Friday, September 26, so now we can only comment on the statements about the bill, which are reported by the media.
It can be concluded that the question of how there were 4,8 million illegally built buildings in the U.S. has not been answered Serbia and why about half a million requests for legalization under previous laws have not been resolved.
Illegal construction has far-reaching damage to society and the quality of life. In most cases, illegal buildings are not demolished and permanently pollute the living space. On the other hand, such objects often represent necessary and forced solutions for people's lives.
In ten years, 3,5 million illegal buildings
It is interesting that in 2015, the then minister Zorana Mihajlović stated that there are 1,5 million illegal buildings in Serbia, and today there are almost five million of them. This would mean that 3,5 million illegal units were built in 10 years.
It is obvious that the previous laws were an incentive for wild construction. This practically means that there are almost five million illegal units for every 6,5 million citizens of Serbia. The new law will only encourage illegal construction because investors know that the state will need money at some point and will give them a chance for legalization.
Therefore, the absolute priority of the state in this area should be the existence of safe and technically correct facilities for the life and work of people, rather than records of what has been built.
It is good that it is proposed that the basic principle of this law will be that the recording fee is paid in the amount of the contribution for the development of the urban construction land, but then it is unlikely that this amount will be 100 euros, at least in most cities in Serbia.
Encouraging illegal construction
Since 1997, the state has been trying to solve the problem of illegal buildings, through 5 laws that were passed and which dealt with the problem of illegal buildings. And every time "zero tolerance for illegal facilities" was mentioned after the new law was passed. However, the adoption of each new law encouraged illegal construction.
One of the most serious problems of the previous laws, and probably also of the new law, is that the costs of legalization are lower than all the costs before the building permit and before the registration of works at the facility that are done legally.
In this way, investors are stimulated to build illegal objects that they subsequently legalize. It must not be allowed to legalize an illegally built building, that is, legalization
of a criminal offense, will be more favorable than the legal construction procedure. The price of the legalization of buildings must not be less than the price that conscientious investors pay when they go the regular way: from obtaining urban planning conditions, participation costs, costs of connection to infrastructure connections and others.
Questionable stability of buildings
The second, and perhaps the biggest problem with the previous and this law is that they legalize facilities whose stability is very questionable. For the legalization of the building, no static proof of the building's stability is required, but only an elaboration with a sketch of the premises, along with a statement that the building was built according to the rules of the profession.
Such facilities are unsafe for life and work, and they are cheaper for the Investor, because they do not require static and dynamic stability calculations. The big question is what would happen to such buildings in case of a stronger earthquake. Unfortunately, we have not learned the lessons from
earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February 2023, and damage caused by negligent construction.
We doubt that the legalization of buildings will significantly affect the price of real estate in Serbia. The price of real estate must be regulated by other measures and laws. Also, property tax is still paid today on "buildings and parts of buildings" without mentioning whether they are legal or not.
The biggest benefit will be the banks that will be able to write mortgages on these objects and, much less, the state through legalization fees. A more correct path would be to allow citizens to build legally and truly zero tolerance for illegal structures.
The authors are the dean and professor of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade
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