PLN 10,000 fine for house owners. The development ministry goes to war with “wild” hotels

Up to 10 thousand PLN penalties will be paid by property owners who provide collective accommodation in single-family houses – according to information provided by the Deputy Minister of Development, Tomasz Lewandowski. The ministry is looking for a fast legislative path to introduce new regulations.

During the meeting of the Joint Commission of the Government and Local Government, the Ministry of Development and Technology presented information on the advancement of legislative work to solve the problem of creating collective housing facilities in single-family residential buildings. As indicated by the local government website, current regulations allow for the creation of accommodation for even several dozen people in a single-family house.

– There are towns and communes in Poland where they were even established estates built specifically for people coming from outside the country to vegetate in these rooms and these are usually single-family housesor semi-detached buildings where several dozen people live in disgusting conditions, with no respect for sanitary and fire safety regulations – said Marek Wójcik, secretary of the local government. – This problem must be solved quickly before a tragedy occurs – he emphasized.

Deputy Minister of Development and Technology Tomasz Lewandowski announced that provisions amending the law in this area have already been prepared. First of all, in a single-family building only 30 percent area can be used for temporary residence purposes. Allocating a larger area for such activities will require obtaining a decision to change the use of the building.

– We clearly indicate that if someone wants to run such an employee hotel, they must apply for a change in the use of the building – emphasized Lewandowski.

The ministry also plans to introduce a financial penalty of up to PLN 10,000. PLN for using the building without prior consent to change the use.

– This penalty can also be imposed in subsequent stages if the building owner does not comply – said the deputy minister.

When asked by the local government about the schedule of work on amending the regulations, the deputy head of the Ministry of Energy and Technology emphasized that the government wanted to introduce new regulations as soon as possible. Currently, both the option of a government project and the preparation of proposals for new regulations in consultation with parliamentarians are being considered to be processed as a parliamentary initiative.

– We have the same goal, we are wondering which path will go faster – said the deputy minister.

The local government side of KWRiST declared its readiness to cooperate on the detailed solutions included in the project. Marek Wójcik also appealed for the restoration of the provisions of the Construction Law from before 2018, which allowed for the separation of at most two residential premises in a single-family building.

– Nowadays, single-family houses are divided into residential premises and we have a single-family house with 14 or 18 residential premises. From the point of view of the functioning of local government units and municipal infrastructure, this is something that should not happen – emphasized Wójcik.

Detailed proposals for changing the regulations are to be provided by the Ministry of Energy and Technology to the local government within a week. (PAP)

mr/ mick/