Planning/urbanisation/building consent

For a building to be built, a building permit needs to be issued by the competent city or county authority; for a building permit to be issued, a building plan created by a licensed civil engineer needs to be provided.

In Croatia, there are problems with the registration of buildings, especially those that were built before 1996. Those buildings often lack building documentation or is difficult to find. Therefore, the Construction and Physical Planning Act defined different documents that need to be obtained to register a building in the cadastre and the land register. No evidence needs to be provided for buildings constructed before 15 February 1968.

For a building to be used for business purposes, a permit needs to be issued by the competent administrative authority.

In practice, however, there are certain problems related to determining whether a building has all necessary permits. According to regulations, however, a building may not be entered in the cadastre without the necessary permits, and as a result it may not be entered in the land register. In such cases, land is marked as developed in the cadastre and the land register, indicating a building without the necessary permits.

There are cases when real properties are located within protected areas, such as national parks, nature parks etc. In such a case, the competent administrative authority – the cadastre, urban planning office – determines whether a real property is located within a protected area, which is taken into consideration by the land registration court, too. That is typically not indicated in the land register. However, in the future a notification is planned.

As for buildings of historic value – cultural heritage – a permit by the conservator, or another competent Ministry of Culture authority, is required for demolition or renovation.