Have you bought a plot, designed the garden and are missing only a wooden holiday cabin to relax in? Thanks to changes in the Building Law Act that occurred in recent years (and new ones will come into force soon, as on March 3, 2020 another act amending the Building Law Act was signed), in many situations you won’t need a building permit for a cheap, small cabin to stand on your plot. Learn in which cases you only need to submit a building notification to the office, what can be built without a permit, and how to buy a holiday cabin project that will be erected without a building permit.
Wooden cabin without a permit – holiday cabin or all-year cabin?
What can be built without a permit? Our offer includes both wooden holiday cabins and all-year cabins. Both types come in base dimensions up to 35m2, which allows building them by a simplified method – just a building notification to the County Starostwo is required (this category also includes woodshed, tool shed and small outbuildings). To meet all requirements, we also create custom holiday cabin projects that can be placed on a recreational or garden plot without a permit. Our comprehensive offer thus includes projects and ready-made homes - without a permit.
Holiday cabins without a building permit are typically intended for spring and summer. A private recreation building – that’s how these holiday recreational cabins are described.
Meanwhile all-year cabins without a building permit – as the name suggests – are built using technology that enables operation also outside the sunniest period. But not only that, because the building’s insulation (commonly and somewhat misleadingly called insulation) increases comfort of use of the cabin in summer as well, preventing rapid and excessive temperature rise inside.
Building Law, and specifically Article 29, allows us to infer that permit-free cabins are treated as recreation buildings for individuals, i.e. objects intended for seasonal leisure. Therefore wooden houses without a permit are most often found on plots outside the city (recreational plot).
Buildings with a floor area exceeding 35m2 in the basement – whether designed for year-round use or not insulated or lacking electrical or sanitary installations – are treated as residential buildings. If you want to place a cabin larger than 35m2 on your plot, you must follow the regulations related to residential buildings (permit!), not recreational buildings.
Don’t forget this difference, as it has consequences. Different formalities await you when you want to place a year-round wooden house or a holiday cabin above the allowed basement size (legalization required), and different if you plan to reserve on the plot only space for a small cabin up to 35m2, i.e. within the permitted size.
Woodshed and tool shed and the new Building Law
Similar to a holiday residential cabin, structures like woodshed or tool shed that do not exceed 35m2 in base do not require a building permit. This also applies to erecting a garden gazebo or carport – legalization will not be necessary.
Recreational houses without a building permit – formalities
Changes that occurred in 2015 relaxed the requirements for private investors interested in placing a small cabin up to 35m2 on the plot. If
- the building will be stand-alone and single-story (i.e. it does not have a full floor or usable attic, it may nonetheless be equipped with a mezzanine or a full non-usable attic, i.e. a loft),
- the built-up area of such an object will be up to 35m2 in base (hence such structures are often described as cabins without a permit up to 35m2),
- the number of such buildings will not exceed one per each 500m2 of plot area,
then there is no need to apply for a building permit.
The same rules apply not only to permit-free houses but also to other small structures. Examples include: outbuildings with a built-up area up to 35m2 and a span not larger than 4.8m, garages also up to 35m2 and home septic tanks with a capacity up to 7.5m3 per day.
Do you want to relax next summer in your own recreational home? Thanks to the simplification of the regulations, that’s possible – you don’t have to fear that the process of obtaining a relevant building permit will take months. Instead of worrying about formalities, you can start browsing holiday cabin projects without a permit, which you’ll find on our website. Once you find the perfect small cabin, all that’s left is to submit a notification to the office.
Permit-free cabins up to 35m2 – where to notify the construction of a holiday home?
A holiday home is a great solution from the perspective of any owner of an off-city recreational plot. Buildings of this type and recreational development without a building permit are a perfect complement to a large garden, which is why many investors choose this solution. If you want to join them, before starting construction you must submit the relevant notification. The Building Law requires the plot owner to file documents at the starostwo or the city hall with county rights. It is rare for the voivodeship office to be the competent authority (this happens, for example, when the object is to be built on a marina or territorial sea).
You don’t have to draft the building notification yourself – you can use a template for such a document. You will find it among others on the website of the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology. With the notification you’ll also need to attach appendices, e.g.:
- a declaration of the right to manage the property for construction purposes,
- sketches and drawings, which you will obtain from the cabin’s contractor,
- proof of payment of the stamp duty,
- your own hand-drawn location of the investment on the plot’s situational map (you’ll obtain the map at the Starostwo, where the notification procedure will also take place).
It is very important that you submit the notification before you physically start. Otherwise parts of the cabin already erected will be deemed illegal construction, and you will face a long legalization procedure. In such a situation you lose all the benefits that come with permit-free holiday cabins, and the moment you can start using them will be delayed.
Do not start work immediately after submitting the notification either. Before erecting a wooden cabin without a permit, you should wait the statutory 21 days that the authority has to raise objections. If none are raised, you can proceed.
If you’re interested in affordable projects of houses and woodsheds without a building permit, you’ll find such structures in our wide range. We guarantee every investor help in choosing a holiday cabin project, as well as all the necessary sketches. Our permit-free cabins up to 35m2 are durable and elegant constructions available in many variants.
Building a house and woodsheds without a permit and technical conditions
Wooden houses without a permit, which will be used only for summer rest, can be erected on a variety of private plots, including those in Home Garden Plots. All legal conditions can be found in the spatial development plan that the recreational plot possesses. All this makes the project and construction of a holiday home less complicated. As a result, investors can purchase ready-made wooden houses without a permit. This kind of recreational development and these types of buildings without a building permit are affordable, while still offering high comfort.