Unauthorized construction

"Tear it, tear it down... That is what you do the best"

Again, illegally constructed buildings are being town down in Croatia. Allegedly, right now over 10,000 buildings are awaiting the bulldozers. They will be torn to the ground. Who is to blame and who are the victims in these cases? In the "exchanges" between the builders and the bulldozers, only one group is the victim, and those are the innocent buyers of the flats.

They are perhaps misinformed, naive, perhaps they don't know how to "read" a building permit, but those are not reasons enough to be so damaged. They properly paid for a home they will never move into. All they are left with is to file a private lawsuit against the person or company who sold them the flat. The amount the court will order returned to them, and the return date is questionable. In the end, the question arises as to whether they will receive anything at all. What is the court order worth, if the seller does not have the financial resources to pay the damaged party?

The money earned in the sale of the flats is usually mostly already spent on buying the land, in the construction itself, in "turning aside" the eyes of the inspectors, and in the end, on tearing down the building. Investors usually immediately invest any extra money in new building land.

The fact that private buyers do not know how to read building permits and project documentation is not so horrible, as this is not their profession. But how is it possible that the building inspectors do not know how to read the project documentation at the building site? While still at the stage of digging and pouring of the foundation? Why does the building have to be completed, with roof and facade in place? Why does an entire subdivision need to be built, only for someone to later "realize" that the entire subdivision is not in line with the issued building permits? It was clear long before that the building had exceeded the width and length dimensions, not to mention the number of floors. The buildings were supposed to have been family homes with two flats, and not buildings with multiple flats. This was visible long ago, and not only at the end. This was clear to the layman, but not to the "experts".

What were the building inspectors doing all this time? Were they waiting for the building to be finished to better "pound" the investor? Did they want the entire process to cost more? To put the investor at the edge of the abyss, without any possibility of returning the invested money to the buyers before the majority was spent on construction? Sorry, on construction and destruction?

Who are these building inspectors who should have, but did not, do their job. Who are those who "look away" so they can't see the building that has so obviously overstepped the project documentation dimensions? What are the motives for their inefficiency? What are the reasons for their "blindness"? Are they responsible to anyone, because they intentionally allowed these buyers (ordinary people) to be mislead?

Should they all be fired, or just some of them? They should be appointed to less responsible posts. Such as controlling the construction of clay houses in the first grade. At least then, no one will be left without a roof over their heads due to their "intentional or unintentional" incompetence.

What kind of a country do we live in? We live in a country where no one is held accountable for their lack of professionalism, for their incompetence, for corruption, where no one needs to explain why they did not do their job. In a country where it is not important that people could be financially destroyed. Dear inspectors, your jobs is not to "look away" while the investor puts money in your pocket and only to stop looking away when the sources of funding dry up. You are not here to financially support your family, all the while not caring about how many other families will be financially destroyed because of your material goals. If it was you who permitted an illegal building to grow to illegal heights, then it should be you, together with the investors, who should compensate the families from your own pockets. If the state does not hold you responsible to compensate the private buyers of illegal buildings with your personal assets, then that burden should fall upon the Croatian state, for it was the state that appointed you to your duties, even though you were not moral enough or competent enough to carry out those duties professionally.

The public service is the trough in which many "get rich illegally", but unlike the illegal buildings, its bank accounts never "dry out". Never.

Who will return the invested money to Mark, Darren or whatever the buyers" names are? Who will give them back their savings? No one has explained that anywhere. It has not even been mentioned. It is not even worth mentioning.

What is important is that we can proudly announce, for Europe's sake, that all the returnees from Serbia whose homes were destroyed in the war have had their homes in Croatia renewed. They were not to blame. Nor are these people to blame. Who will build replacement homes for these people, who are not to blame and who are not returnees from Serbia, for their homes that were torn down? And not in a war. They paid for their flats. Fair and square. At the moment the buildings were torn down, those flats were their private property, and not the property of the contractor. But no one cares about that, for Europe has not asked for any explanation.

Perhaps the solution is to sell all of the illegally constructed buildings to people from outside of Croatia. Then it will become the subject of our interests. Everyone will look after those buyers. Their representatives, the EU and the Croatian state. If, God forbid, their property is torn down, perhaps it could be interpreted as a right-wing action, or a simple act of vandalism which could prevent or slow down our "path" to Europe.

It seems as though we will be ready for Europe and the World in 2905. No, the date is not written incorrectly, as that is exactly how long it will take for our justice system, state administration and all public institutions to be brought to a level one notch above the European level, if we continue to move forward at this "snail's" pace.

There is a chance that then, and only then, we will finally succeed in uprooting corruption among Croats. Then all the big and little people will be protected by the law, as the abuse of official positions will no longer be possible. Today, that looks more like a Jules Verne novel. Considering that the buyers of real estate, with this irresponsible work and conduct of the inspectors, are more or less unprotected in the purchase, it would be better for them to hand over the inspection of documents and the drafting of the sales contract to a good real estate agency or a good law firm.

What should the buyer look out for before it's too late? Before the bulldozer tears down the roof over his head? Unfortunately, it is up to the buyer to protect himself from bad contractors and bad inspectors. Here is how.

First carefully read and analyse all of the sections of the building permit. The permit must bear a stamp with the date confirming the final date of issuing the permit. The building permit consists of two important sections. The first is the text section which describes what is permitted on which plot of land. The second section is stamped with the same date and includes the complete project documentation and blueprints, with the building layout, number of floors, number of flats, size of each room, and more all laid out to the millimetre.

Usually, the investor will only show you the text section of the building permit, from which it may not be possible to determine whether the actual construction has exceeded the dimensions in the permit. Therefore, it is necessary to insist that you see the project documentation. In those plans, ask to be shown the exact flat you are interested in, with all the details. If the building permit has been issued for a building with 4 stories, then you cannot buy a flat on the 6th floor, even though the investor may try to convince you that this will be approved later on. You should agree to buy this non-existent floor only when the final approved building permit has been issued.

Take a measuring tape and measure the width and length of the building foundation. If the authorized project documentation states that the foundation dimensions are 22.10 x 13.15 metres, then the foundation must measure 22.10 x 13.15 metres. If you measure any other dimension, such as 24.10 x 14.50 metres, or worse, 30 x 25 metres, then DO NOT BUY a flat in that building, even if the price per square metre is only 500 euro, as this will be the most expensive and worst investment you will ever make. This building will not receive an occupancy certificate. Instead it will become number 10,001 on the "destruction" list, and you will become a new victim of illegal construction and negligence by the building inspector. Take a good look at the new land registry papers for this building plot, and compare it to the land registry paper listed in the authorized project documentation.

Take a good look to see whether a mortgage (or lien) is on the property, for if there is, you will not be able to register the title of the flat to your name until the investor has cleared all the debts to the private person or bank from which he received the loan for the construction, or for the purchase of another building plot. Are you certain that the investor will be able to pay back the loan? Also check and compare the cadastre document to the land registry document. In addition, there must also be a layout plan for each floor of the building. It would be great if the building has already received an occupancy certificate, and is already registered in the land registry and cadastre. If all the details in the text (letters, numbers, etc.) are all "lined up" to the millimetre, then you can count your money and be sure that you haven't bought a "lemon", but that you have instead become a rare happy flat owner in Croatia and you can be sure that the building will not be torn down. It is a good idea to have a real estate agency or law firm you trust do a final check of the documents and to draw up the sales contract. It is a pity that this is the only way to ensure that you are properly protected. If you and other buyers refuse to buy illegally constructed flats, then the only person to be damaged will be the investor. Sorry, and the inspector. But not you.

So let the contractor and the investor "have it out'". The only important thing is that this does not go through your pocket. You can be certain that if no one buys a flat in an "expanded" building, the investor will tear it down himself and start anew. According to the project documentation. The valid and approved documentation.

This is like dominos. If you don't pay the illegal builder, and then he does not have money to pay the inspector to "look the other way". This will significantly impact the healthy eyesight of the inspector, who will immediately begin to see and stop unauthorized building.

 

Autor: Mirjana Mikulić