Have you checked whether your plot has "legal access"?

Building land or agricultural land without a legally resolved access road is a major problem for many property owners. If you own building land without proper access, you simply cannot obtain any construction act, meaning you cannot get a building permit for your land.

Many such plots are still on the market today, and owners or buyers who find themselves in this situation often go through a real nightmare trying to resolve the access road issue. That is why you should always check whether the plot you own, or the plot you are planning to buy, has legal and properly resolved access.

A few important things you should know

1. Access to the land must first be legally resolved in terms of ownership

This means that the access road surface must be owned by:

a) the municipality or the state
b) you
c) or there must be a registered right of way in favour of your land

If ownership of the access road is not resolved, and since every plot must legally have access, you may, in exceptional cases, have to seek your right through court proceedings.

2. Even if access is legally resolved, that does not automatically mean you can obtain a building permit

You also need to check the urban planning conditions of the municipality.

If you receive confirmation that your land is located within a building zone, but there is still a requirement to prepare a Detailed Development Plan, DPU, or an Urban Development Plan, UPU, for that area, you still will not be able to build on your land until the municipality prepares that plan.

Past practice has shown that some municipalities prepare these plans within a few years, while others never do. That can become a serious problem.

The next thing to check is the minimum required road width. If your access road is 3 m wide, but the spatial plans require a minimum road width of 5.5 m, you still cannot build because you do not meet the required conditions.

In that case, you can either wait or start dealing with the neighbours and hope that everyone agrees to resolve the issue.

The procedure is lengthy, but it can be solved. That is why we advise you to check the status of your access road with your municipality as soon as possible.

3. If the cadastral copy is not clear enough, request a cadastral plot determination

In practice, if the cadastral map copy is unclear and the boundaries are not visible, it is advisable to ask a licensed geodetic office to carry out a “cadastral plot determination” for the road and your plot.

4. Without a properly resolved access road, public utility companies may refuse infrastructure connections

Under the newer regulations, if you do not have a legally resolved access road, public utility companies will not allow connection to infrastructure. This primarily refers to ownership and legal access issues.

In other words, they may refuse to connect your land to water, gas, or electricity. This is another detail that must be taken seriously before buying or planning construction.

There is almost no situation that cannot eventually be resolved. The real question is how much time, patience, and cooperation it will require from everyone involved.

That is why it is worth getting properly informed in advance and thinking carefully about what you want to do with your property — today, tomorrow, or further into the future.

Aljoša Vučetić