Construction-suspension record, demolition decision and the administrative court route for unlicensed buildings

The drawing up of a record for a building constructed without a permit or contrary to its permit, followed by demolition and fine decisions, is a process made up of connected but separate acts. This note outlines the basic rules in Zoning Law No. 3194 and the administrative court route against these acts. The details of calculating time limits are covered in a separate note: the time limit for filing an action against administrative acts and administrative applications. For the general framework, see the Planning and development law and Administrative law pages.

In brief: Under Article 32 of the Zoning Law, when a building constructed without a permit or contrary to its permit is identified, the building is sealed and construction is stopped; the stoppage is deemed notified once the construction-suspension record is posted at the construction site. The statute gives the building owner one month. If the non-compliance is not remedied within this period, the demolition decision is taken by the municipal encümen (executive committee) or the provincial administrative board. Article 42 separately provides for an administrative fine. As a general rule, an annulment action may be filed with the administrative court against these acts within 60 days.

What is a construction-suspension record and how is it notified?

Under Article 32 of the Law, where it is established that construction began without a permit, or that a building contrary to the permit, its annexes or the relevant legislation is being built, the municipality or governorship determines the state of construction at that moment. The building is sealed and construction is stopped immediately.

Other important points in the text of the article are as follows:

• The stoppage is deemed notified to the building owner once the construction-suspension record is posted at the construction site.
• One copy of the notification is left with the muhtar (neighbourhood head) and one copy is sent to the Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanisation.
• Information that the building contravenes zoning legislation is communicated to the land registry office within seven days at the latest, to be entered in the declarations section of the title records.
• Work and procedures carried out with the written permission of the administration to bring the building into conformity with the legislation are not considered the offence of breaking a seal under Article 42.

The one-month period and the demolition decision

Under the same article, the building owner may, within at most one month from the date of notification, request the lifting of the seal by bringing the building into conformity with the permit or by obtaining a permit. If, upon examination, it is found that the non-compliance has been remedied and the building conforms to the permit, the seal is lifted and construction is allowed to continue.

Otherwise the permit is cancelled; following the decision of the municipal encümen or the provincial administrative board, the building constructed without a permit or contrary to the permit is demolished by the municipality or governorship, and the cost is collected from the building owner. For buildings that the administration determines cannot be brought under a permit or whose non-compliance cannot be remedied, the permit is cancelled without waiting for the one-month period.

The Law also introduces a time-based supervisory mechanism: buildings for which it is established that the non-compliance has not been remedied within one month of the record but for which no demolition decision has been taken within two months, and buildings that have not been demolished within six months despite a demolition decision, may be demolished, or have demolished, by the Ministry.

Administrative fine (Art. 42)

Under Article 42 of the Law, within ten working days of the date the non-compliance is identified, the encümen of the relevant administration imposes an administrative fine on those responsible. The fine is imposed separately on the building owner, the building contractor and the technical supervisors who do not report the non-compliance to the administration within six working days.

As a rule, it works as follows:

• The fine is calculated on the basis of the square metres of non-compliant construction area, according to the building class and group.
• The calculation is increased or reduced by rates set according to circumstances such as shared-title parcels, public land, absence of a permit, and completed and used buildings.
• The per-square-metre amounts are increased by the revaluation rate with effect from the start of each calendar year. For current amounts, therefore, the official announcements for the year should be consulted; no amount is given in this note.
• The fine is imposed not only on the owner of the immovable but on the person who actually built or had the building built. In the Council of State decisions cited in the Ministry opinion, the expression “building owner” is interpreted in this way.
• Under a provision added to the text later, if the non-compliance is remedied within one month of the notification of the fine and the building is brought into conformity with the legislation, a certain additional fine is not collected.

Action before the administrative court against the decision

Article 7 of the Administrative Procedure Law (No. 2577) sets the period for filing an action before administrative courts at sixty days, unless a special law provides a different period. The period starts on the day following the date of written notification (Arts. 7 and 8). If the last day falls on a holiday, the period extends until the end of the next working day.

Under the relevant provisions:

• A separate action is filed against each administrative act; acts that are materially or legally connected may also be made the subject of an action with a single petition (Art. 5).
• The petition states the date of written notification of the act that is the subject of the action (Art. 3).
• Because the construction-suspension record, the demolition decision and the fine are separate acts, the notification date and time limit of each is assessed separately.

Because the form of notification of the construction-suspension record (posting) and the notification procedure for the other decisions may differ, the start of the period is determined from the documents in the specific file.

What is a request for a stay of execution?

Under Article 27 of the Administrative Procedure Law, filing an action does not by itself stop the execution of the act being challenged. The claimant may separately request a stay of execution in the petition. The court may grant this request if both conditions are met: that implementing the act would cause damage that is difficult or impossible to remedy, and that the act is clearly unlawful. The decision is reasoned; objection may be made to granted or rejected requests within the period set by law. Granting the request does not mean the case will be won on the merits; it is only a temporary protective measure.

Building registration certificate and zoning amnesty

Provisional Article 16 of Law No. 3194 concerns the issuance of a “Building Registration Certificate” for buildings constructed before 31/12/2017. According to the text of the article, for buildings that are issued the certificate, demolition decisions taken under this Law and uncollected administrative fines are cancelled; the certificate relates to the building’s use. In the source text, the application and registration-fee payment dates are given as 2018; it could not be verified from an official source whether these periods were later extended by amendments or whether a new period was opened. The current position as of the date this note was prepared should be checked in the Ministry’s announcements and the Official Gazette. For official sources, the index on the Official resources page may be used.

This information note is for general information and does not contain legal advice specific to any person.