The right to build has a 5-year term

 

I have a ceded, and against my solid amount, right to build 4 years ago on land. I intended to do a cooperative, even excavation work was done. Due to financial problems, however, I have not started anything. Is it true that the right to build is expired by some statute of limitations and becomes invalid after a certain period?

 

According to Art. 67 of the Ownership Act, "the right to build a building on a foreign land is extinguished in favor of the owner of the land by statute of limitation if it is not exercised for 5 years." This otherwise short and small legal text is of great importance for the entire exercise of the right to build. Because it is precisely the terms that cause the most problems.

 

The right to build can be established in several ways. The first is when an owner gives another person the right to build a building on his land by becoming the owner of the building. This usually becomes payable - just the right to build is sold for a certain amount. However, this may also be the case with another forbidding deal - such as replacement, or free-of-charge donation. The second is when the owner of the land transfers ownership of the existing building separately from the land. And in the third option, ownership of a building, separate from the ground beneath it, can also be created through a voluntary partition. This also creates the right to construction, which must be "consumed" within 5 years, after which it is extinguished by prescription.

 

According to the laws and the case-law, this statute of limitation begins to run from the day when the notarial deed of the right to build was signed. It should be noted here that the right to build, as a rule, is also transferred by a notary deed. It complies with the rules of the title deed of ownership transfer - for example through the purchase and sale of property. If the right to build is constituted by a voluntary division contract, the limitation period starts to run from the notarial certification of the dividers.

 

And here we come to some of the most controversial issues. When does the five-year term expire, and when is the exercise of the right of construction to be considered?

 

It is considered that the exercise of the right to build does not contain the preparatory work. This includes the provision of administrative permits and documents, storage of materials and even excavation work.

 

In order to have a right to build, it is not necessary for everything in the building to be ready - to be equipped, to be plastered, to have all the installations, to be glazed and so on. However, the question is whether it has to be completed in rough construction to assume that there is exercise of this right.

 

According to the law, the right to build is transformed into a right of ownership on the already built structure and in the right to be held on the land of the founder of the right to build a landowner. Judicial practice, in large part, says that this happens when the building is built in a "rough look". Many of the well-known real estate specialists do not necessarily have such a rough construction to assume that the right to build has been exercised within the statutory time. In this sense, it is also the case law, but unfortunately it is not unified. As a rule, it is considered that exercising the right to build can be judged by the rise of walls, the casting of concrete slabs, columns and girders, without the need for the last slab or roof. It assesses on a case-by-case basis whether the construction right has actually been implemented and whether the five-year limitation rule has to be enforced.

 

It is also important to note that the limitation period for the right to build does not apply ex officio and follows the rules of limitation under the Obligations and Contracts Act. There must be an act and an act to establish the expiry of the limitation period. This can also be done through an objection to a lawsuit.

 

There was an exception for years ago, which was enshrined in the property law for the right to build on state or municipal land. It was recorded that in these cases the right is extinguished by law and there is no need for a special administrative act. But this norm is no longer in the law.

 

There is a provision in the Spatial Development Act, according to which the five-year limitation period under Art. 67 of the Act of Accession does not run and does not apply in cases where the right to build was received as compensation for expropriated immovable property.

 

And another thing about terms. As a rule, contracts that create a right to build are usually open-ended. If, however, the contract is set for a term, after its expiry, the ownership of the building "passes free of charge to the owner of the land". The term may be fixed on a calendar-to-date basis, up to a certain number of years. It may also be until the occurrence of a certain event - for example, to the death of a person.