New Civil code brings several changes into the area of living and real estate. Its main purpose is to simplify relations not only in the area of renting. One of the novelties is a possibility of rental relation without having the final approval for the property. This has not been possible so far.
The current legislation requires final approval
Currently before the new Civil code comes into effect, it is not possible to rent a property without the final approval for living purposes. The final approval is a very important step that could supersede the whole lease contract. That can also happen in retrospective. Many owners and tenants could have come across this complication.
Typical situation occurred when the owner of the property did not wait for the results of the approval procedure and they rented the property or a part of it even before they obtained the final approval. What are consequences of this behavior?
First, it is classified as an offense against the building act and the owner can be sanctioned. However the situation is not very comfortable for the tenant either. Due to the invalidity of the lease contract, the tenants are not protected by law that usually protects tenants in this relation. For example tenant can be whenever moved out with reference to the invalid lease contract.
Lease contract will be valid even without final approval
In past the Supreme Court rendered precedential decision in which it approved of the above mentioned principle. It concerned a decision regarding an owner who was claiming vacation of his property. It was claimed as non-residential premises which had been approved as an apartment later in the process. The owner then claimed that the original lease contract with tenant was not valid anymore.
The tenant, however, objected that the situation practically had not changed. Despite of all this the court agreed with the owner of the property. These decisions should not be possible anymore. According to the new Civil code it is possible to consider a lease contract valid even in the situation when the apartment is not approved yet.
Of course this does not contradict the need to acquire an approval of the accommodation property and comply with all necessary law concerning safety and habitability of buildings.
