However, developers and people in the field are not exactly excited about the approaching crucial date. On the contrary. "The Building Act brings uncertainty and almost panic to the market," Dušan Kunovský, owner of the development company Central Group and the twelfth richest Czech, said during the Building Development Summit.
“We're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. It is incomprehensible that three months before the launch of such a change, the implementation regulations, which are key, are not known, and it is also not clear how digitization will work and how the state administration is prepared for everything," Kunovský commented on the situation.
The uncertainty surrounding the law, which has already been amended three times since its approval, is also confirmed by Zdenka Klapalová, president of the Association for the Development of the Real Estate Market and CEO of Knight Frank.
"The market's expectations for the new construction law were and are much higher. There is a prevailing concern that some principles and procedures of the new construction law may not bring the expected acceleration of proceedings, but may ultimately lead to the opposite result, which is the overloading of appeals authorities," summarizes Klapalová.
Concerns are mainly about the short period during which officials should familiarize themselves with the new construction law. According to Tomáš Pek, chairman of the Committee for Territorial Development of Prague, there is a risk that the officials at the building authorities will not be able to handle the transition to the new legislation.
Also because, at one point, part of the buildings will be solved according to the old legislation and part according to the new one. In addition, civil servants around retirement age who do not want to learn new things or do not yet know what exactly to learn are leaving the construction authorities.
"Preparation for the transition should have taken place a long time ago. The time for that is very short now. I myself would not dare to launch something like this on July 1, if I were only now introducing officials to previews of the new system, which they cannot even touch," said Zdeněk Zajíček, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic, at the summit.
On the other hand, the implementation of the new law is defended by the senior director of the public investment, construction and social inclusion section of the Ministry for Regional Development, Leona Gergelová Šteigrová.
"The training of officials started in February and ends in April. Four thousand people have already familiarized themselves with the new legislation. And in terms of digitization, in April the minister will present a system for officials and a portal for the public," Gergelová Šteigrová said.
Ideally, the new construction law should help with the length of building permits and insufficient construction, which in the Czech Republic contributes to high real estate prices, among other things. According to the president of the Chamber of Commerce Zajíček, it is also important that entrepreneurs and large investors can count on clear deadlines and that they can operate in a predictable environment.
"If we want to keep investors in the territory of the Czech Republic, the state must ensure that it issues building permits for more complex structures within one year, even with all statements. If we can't do this, no one will want to invest here," pointed out Zajíček.
