On July 27th, 2020, a new Law entered into force which amends the requirements for the authorization of the execution of construction works in the apartments that are part of condominiums/blocks of flats.
Thus, the legislative inititative aimed strictly at the exemption from the requirement to obtain the agreement of the neighbors for the works of closing the balconies/loggias located on the ground floor of the blocks of flats, if it concerns safety or pollution reasons to increase the safety and health of the inhabitants. Therefore, for such works the consent of the neighbors is no longer required, but of the owners’ association.
Through this law the possibility for the owners’ association to rent, put into use or concession the land around the condominium/block of flats, in order for the owners on the ground floor to expand their spaces was also introduced. Such a decision requires a decision of the owners’ association, adopted by a qualified majority of two-thirds of the total number of owners, as well as the consent of the owners directly affected.
At the same time, the neighbors’ agreement in authentic form has been replaced with the agreement of the owners’ association, in case of new constructions located adjacent to existing constructions, if intervention measures are nedeed to protect them, in case of construction works necessary to change the destination in the existing buildings or the location of buildings for another purpose than that of neighboring buildings.
Unfortunately, this last change has nothing to do with the motivation that accompanied the proposal, but is an error of legislative technique. The provision in question is not related to the situations in which a block of flats is adjacent to a new building and is even less applicable in the event of extension of the loggias/balconies on the ground floor of the condominiums, as erroneously motivated by the initiators.
We appreciate that this change, which was intended to be related to the situation of building spaces on the ground floor of apartment buildings, erroneously amended a general legal norm and will have to be remedied in the future.
