The importance of location information

The first step before buying building land is always to request Location Information from the competent Spatial Planning Office in the area where the land is located.

The content of the Location Information is prescribed by the Spatial Planning Act. It informs you about the intended use of the land, whether construction is allowed, what can be built, under which conditions, and which spatial plan is currently in force for the building land you are interested in.

In practice, land was often purchased mainly on the basis of a “Certificate of Land Use”. As the name itself suggests, this is not the same document, and these two documents do not carry the same importance or provide the same information.

A Certificate of Land Use contains only information about the intended use of the land, but not the other important details. Because of this, there have been cases where buyers purchased building land only to later discover that, before obtaining a building permit, they had to wait for an Urban Development Plan, or UPU, to be prepared, along with the resolution of access roads. In some cases, they were forced to wait for years until those plans were completed.

In short, they found themselves in a situation where they owned building land but could not build on it. For that reason, before buying, it is necessary to obtain Location Information so that you can understand all the general and important details that may be useful when planning and designing your future project.

Due to the nature of its content, Location Information is often not enough to determine whether you can design and build exactly what you want on a specific plot. Even when the Location Information sets seemingly simple conditions, and even when the land size appears to be well above the required minimum, with access road and everything else needed for construction secured, a series of other obstacles can still appear and disrupt your plans.

 

Furthermore, the shape of the land itself is also important.

A poor shape and orientation of the plot can negatively affect the desired size of the future house, its form, layout, and functionality.

In extreme cases, it may even turn out that you cannot build what you had imagined at all. Distance from boundaries, the number and position of parking spaces, the required percentage of green area, and the number of floors are only some of the basic conditions that must be taken into account during design.

Detached, semi-detached, and terraced houses all have their own parameters and required distances prescribed by the Spatial Plan.

That is why I advise you to engage architects for a complete and proper analysis before starting construction, or before buying building land, so that you know what can ultimately be built on your future plot.

The analysis itself is not expensive, but it can be extremely valuable.

And to emphasize once again, Location Information is issued by the competent Spatial Planning Office in the area where the land is located. The application must include an extract from the cadastral plan, or a copy of it, and the prescribed administrative fee. Based on Location Information, you cannot begin carrying out works in space, meaning construction, nor can you prepare projects prescribed by special law.

However, Location Information is certainly necessary, but only for general information.

Aljoša Vučetić

Request for release of location information (pdf, 38.2 KB)
Example of location information (pdf, 1.7 MB)