Change of land type. How to convert permanent grass land to building land?

Quick overview

• The conversion of permanent grassland, arable land or gardens into building land depends mainly on the municipality’s zoning plan.
• If the zoning plan allows for construction, it usually deals with the removal of the land from the agricultural land fund, the documentation for the building authority and any changes to the cadastral data.
• If the zoning plan does not allow construction, a change in the type of land in the cadastre is not sufficient and an amendment to the zoning plan must be proposed. This may take months or years and may not be approved by the municipality.

Before you buy land or start paying a planner, have it checked to see if it is even possible to build on it. We can help you check the land registry, the zoning plan, the risks of buying and the contracts for the land.

Types of land

The primary division of land can be found in the Land Registry, which contains information about what is currently on the land. Specifically, land is divided into the following types:

• Built-up areas and courtyards;
• Agricultural land, which is subdivided into: arable land, hops, vineyards, gardens, orchards and permanent grassland;
• Forest land;
• Water areas;
• Other areas.

But what you will be more interested in is the land use, which determines what you can do with the land. This information can be found in the zoning plan of the municipality under which the land falls. You may find a variety of uses (e.g. residential area, garden colony, agricultural area, etc.).

The information in the Land Registry may therefore not be consistent with the zoning plan. For example, your plot of land that is registered as a garden in the Land Registry may be marked as a mixed residential area in the zoning plan. If you are planning to build on the land, it is the use of the land that you are interested in.

We know from experience that confusion between the cadastre and the zoning plan is one of the most common mistakes when buying land. For example, a client sees a “garden” in the cadastre and assumes that he will build a house on it without any major problems. However, it is only from the zoning plan that they find out that it is, for example, an area of greenery, recreation or an agricultural area where the municipality does not allow a family house at all.

You can therefore find out the specific conditions for building on your land in the municipality’s zoning plan. This is available on the municipality’s website or from the municipal authority, the building authority or the regional authority.

It is at this stage that most mistakes are made. Often, buyers base their decisions on the advertisement or the cadastre, but only find the actual restrictions in the regulations of the zoning plan. If you are just buying land, it is worth getting it legally checked before signing a reservation or purchase contract.

Change of land type

If the zoning plan designates the land as building land, you are still not completely out of the woods. If you plan to build on agricultural land, you will first have to remove it from the agricultural land fund. You have to apply for removal from the agricultural land fund at the relevant environmental department of the municipality with extended jurisdiction.

In one of our situations, the client wanted to build on land registered as permanent grassland. The zoning plan allowed construction on the site, but the problem arose with the extent of the agricultural land withdrawal and the application documents. Thanks to a timely inspection, the missing documentation was completed before the application was submitted and unnecessary delays at the office were avoided.

The application must be accompanied by:

• an extract from the Land Registry and a map with the location of the land and details of the land and its owner clearly marked;
• a cadastral map showing the proposal to remove the land (ideally from the building designer),
• a calculation of the removalcharges, indicating the procedure,
• consent of the other co-owners (if you do not own the land yourself),
• in the case of temporary removal, a reclamation plan.

The levies are calculated according to the so-called BPEJ code – i.e. the soil-ecological unit, which determines the quality and price of agricultural land. The price per m² is multiplied by the protection coefficient and the size of the area to be removed.

Calculating the levy is simple – you only need to know three details: the basic price of the land according to the BPEJ (you can find this by looking at the BPEJ code in the land register) the soil protection class (according to which the coefficient is assigned) and the size of the land to be removed (in m²).

For example:

Basic BPEJ price: 16 CZK/m²

Protection class: class I = coefficient 11

Land area: 600 m²
16 CZK × 11 × 600 m² = 105 600 CZK

The application must also include a ‘ balance sheet’ for the removal of cultural layers – i.e. what will happen to the topsoil that will be removed during construction. A pedological survey – an analysis of the soil from the excavation on the site – must also be provided.

Change of land use

In addition to the fact that the land is not marked as building land in the land registry, you may encounter the situation that it is not marked as building land even in the municipality’s zoning plan. However, it is not necessarily impossible that you will build a house there one day. However, you should be prepared for a long wait and an uncertain outcome.

The outcome of a zoning change can never be promised in advance. Even a well-prepared proposal may be rejected by the municipality if it conflicts with the community’s development concept, land protection or infrastructure capacity. Therefore, an attorney cannot guarantee approval of an amendment, but can greatly reduce the risk that a proposal will be rejected because of poor wording, incomplete documents, or overlooked restrictions.

For a zoning amendment, it is important to articulate the proposal well and to document why the municipality should consider the amendment at all. We will prepare the supporting documents in a way that is understandable to the municipality, the council and the planner.

In some cases, however, change is ruled out altogether. These are lands that are protected as public utility areas.

In this case, a zoning change will be required. Changes to the zoning plan usually take place every few years. They are decided by the municipal council on the basis of a proposal that can be submitted by the council itself, a public administration body, a citizen of the municipality, an owner or user of real estate in the municipality (e.g. a company) and an authorised investor.

Therefore, if you would like to propose the change yourself, you will have to submit a proposal containing the following information:

• Name and surname, residential address, telephone number and e-mail for communication.
• Description of the change: A brief explanation of what is to be changed and why (e.g. conversion of permanent green space to residential use).
• Identification of the area: Address, parcel number and relevant cadastral area.
• Proof of ownership: Current extract from the Land Registry or purchase contract; for co-ownership, also shares.
• Justification for the change: Brief explanation of the reasons, including any supporting documents.

It should be taken into account that changes are not decided individually but in a package with other proposals. The proposal will be decided by the municipal council, which will then inform you of the outcome.

Summary

When converting permanent grassland, arable land, gardens or other agricultural land into building land, it is the municipality’s zoning plan that is decisive, not the land register entry itself. The cadastre shows the actual type of land, while the zoning plan determines whether and what kind of building can be placed on the land. If the zoning plan allows for construction, agricultural land will usually need to be removed from the agricultural land fund, documented and levies paid according to the BPEJ, soil protection class and acreage. If the zoning plan does not allow construction, a proposal for its amendment must be submitted, which is decided by the municipality, and the outcome is uncertain. It is therefore worth checking the cadastre, the zoning plan, access to the land, networks, protective restrictions and legal risks before buying or designing a building.