“The development sector is flourishing in our city,” says Krakow councilor Łukasz Gibała. He points to an investment where a single-family house was divided into several micro-apartments with “underground balconies”. – It looks like the activity of a flipper who bought an old house and converted it – says Marek Wielgo, an expert of the website rybprzeotny.pl, for tvn24.pl.
In a post on social media, Gibała drew attention to the so-called pathological development in the form of an “underground balcony”. In his opinion, “in this case, the developer has outdone himself.”
He added that one of the “most striking examples” of pathological development in the former capital of Poland are the so-called micro-studio apartments.
“At ul. Horaka 17 there is a large single-family building, which the developer has divided into several apartments, each of several square meters. Of course, it is illegal, but unfortunately such practices are becoming more and more common in Krakow,” the councilor said in the entry.
“Let's think about electricity, sewage and parking spaces. After all, the entire infrastructure was designed for one family, and a dozen or so of them are supposed to live here. The main question is where the residents will park and will the electricity and sewerage networks withstand it?” – Gibała pointed out.
Interpellations regarding investments
At the end of the entry, the Krakow councilor noted that he had already submitted several interpellations and letters to the construction supervision regarding such housing investments. The last ones concerned the one discussed in the Facebook post and at Zina 3 and Kokosowa 30.
“There are cases when construction can be stopped, although most often it is an unequal fight between residents and developers. If you know of similar cases, please report them to me. We will keep fighting!” – he appealed to the residents.
As explained by the vice-president of Krakow, Stanisław Mazur, in an interview with the local portal krakow.naszemiasto.pl, no applications for changes in use have been submitted for these investments, which would allow the premises to be divided into smaller ones. After interpellations, one of the investments, at ul. Kokosowa, was suspended, although the investor filed a complaint against this decision. In the case of investments with “underground balconies”, administrative activities are ongoing. And in the case of the investment at ul. “Appropriate action” is to be taken.
Flipper, not developer?
Marek Wielgo, an expert of the website rybprzeotny.pl, said that in the case publicized by a councilor from Krakow, it is difficult for him to imagine “that any self-respecting development company would build this type of facility.”
– It looks more like the activity of a flipper who bought an old single-family house on the secondary market and converted it in such a way as to accommodate as many tenants as possible. Earlier, I heard that some flippers were buying large apartments and dividing them into small rooms. They call them investment units. However, I have not heard of anyone trying to fight this practice, which is very dangerous due to regulations regarding sunlight, fire protection or ventilation – Wielgo comments for the tvn24.pl business editorial team.
Regulations limiting path-development
Recently, the government has taken actions aimed at limiting the so-called pathodevelopers. The Ministry of Development and Technology has published new regulations regarding the technical conditions that buildings and their location should meet.
From August 1 this year, the distance of a multi-family residential building over 4 storeys high from the plot boundary was increased to 5 meters. So far, this distance was a minimum of 3 meters in the case of walls without windows or doors, and in the case of walls with windows or doors – 4 meters. In addition, commercial premises in newly designed buildings should have a usable area of not less than 25 m2. It will be possible to construct premises with a smaller area, provided that the premises are located on the first or second above-ground floor of the building and there is direct access to it from the outside of the building.
Marek Wielgo also drew attention to these regulations. He pointed out that the new minimum square footage requirement is intended to “prevent developers from circumventing the square footage standard for apartments.”
– Some people built studio apartments several meters high, suggesting their residential nature. Formally, however, these are commercial premises. Investors are eager to buy them with a view to renting them out. It is worth remembering that using commercial premises for residential purposes is a tricky topic. And that too when they are rented as part of a rental business activities. If the construction supervision finds out, for example from a report, that a commercial premises or even part of it has been converted into a flat, it should consider it as unauthorized construction. It does not matter whether any construction modifications have been made to the premises. The district construction supervision inspector may fine the owner – noted the expert of the rybprimotny.pl website.
Trouble for the buyer
Even if we consciously decide to make such a purchase, we can expect problems. So the question remains: can such a place be legalized? According to Wieglo, the procedure is time-consuming and expensive, and what's worse – it is not always possible.
– Theoretically, such a change can be reported to the district office or the city hall before moving into the premises. The lack of response from officials for 30 days would mean their tacit consent, Wielgo pointed out.
He added that, however, “they may as well not agree to change the use of the commercial premises into a residential one.”
– This may happen if it was contrary to the spatial development plan or the decision on development conditions on the basis of which the developer obtained a building permit. Of course, it is not possible to transform a commercial premises into a residential one if its area is less than 25 square meters, he noted.
Wielgo added that restrictions on the size of apartments are a relatively new solution, which did not exist even under the previous regime. – So, not only in old pre-war tenement houses, but also in blocks of flats built after the war, you can find apartments of several square meters. This fact is taken advantage of by the above-mentioned flippers who modify old houses and apartments, he emphasized.
Main photo source: facebook