housing developments in european countries - Department of ...

Section 3
Policies
Policies Section 3
Table 3.3.1
continued
Table 3.3.1
continued
Country Title or Focus of the Legislation Function of the legislation
Slovenia Amendments to the Construction These specify the conditions for the sale of construction products.
continued Products Act (2000)
Amendments to the Housing Act (2003) These regulate the types of residential buildings, conditions for maintaining residential
buildings, conditions for planning dwellings, ownership relations and the management of
multi-family buildings, rental housing relations, the construction and sale of new
dwellings, help in obtaining and in the use of dwellings, the presence and tasks of the
State in the housing field, the competencies and tasks of municipalities in the housing
field.
Real Estate Brokerage Act (2003) This Act defines conditions for real estate companies and real estate brokers for brokering
real estate transactions; establishes the rules for safe and diligent business activity in real
estate brokerage that real estate companies and real estate brokers are obliged to respect
in their work; provides for the adoption of five executive regulations.
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase This Bill, which is due to be enacted in 2004, introduces a simpler and more
Bill
flexible plan-making system at regional and local levels, promoting better community
involvement. It is expected to be passed into legislation in spring 2004. It also includes
measures to: increase the predictability of planning decisions and speed up the handling
of major infrastructure projects, provides for the introduction of Business Planning Zones,
to cover infrastructure provision, introduce a new optional charge for developers instead
of the cumbersome and time-consuming planning obligations negotiation process; make
the Compulsory Purchase system simpler, fairer and quicker to support policies on
investment in major infrastructure and on regeneration; introduce a statutory purpose for
planning with a view to contributing to sustainable development and remove government
immunity from planning controls.
Note: information for the following countries were not available: Cyprus, Hungary, Portugal
Spain
Legislation necessary for the implementation This includes: Royal Decree 1042/2003, which amends Royal Decree 1/2002 for the
of the Housing Plan 2002-2005
purposes of the purchase of social housing; various Orders and Resolutions, needed for
administration of the Plan, regulating different aspects regarding the volume of funding
to be agreed with the credit institutions and its distribution by Regional Government; the
setting of interest rates applicable to the annual programmes of municipalities, maximum
amounts of State spending and the establishment of the basic price per square metre of
useful floor space, which will act as the benchmark for determining the maximum prices
for the sale and rent of dwellings covered by qualified financing under the Plan. Fiscal
legislation including: Law 46/2002 and Law 36/2003, which are intended to increase the
supply of social housing. These laws introduce tax incentives for increasing the supply of
rented housing and reduce rent levels. The first is applicable to the tenants of rented
housing subject to Income Tax, and the second specifies a special Corporation Tax from
which those companies may benefit that are engaged solely in the renting of dwellings,
providing that they meet certain conditions. Other legislation includes Order
ECO/805/2003, on regulations for the valuation of properties and specific rights for
certain financial purposes and Law 23/2003 on Guarantee in the Sale of Consumer Goods
(modifies Law 1/2000, of 7 January, in relation to tenancy processes).
Sweden Co-operative Rental Housing Act 2002 Made co-operative rental housing in Sweden an official form of tenure.
Turkey Bill in relation to gecekondu This amends the existing gecekondu legislations (Acts No. 775, 2805 and 2981) in order
(squatter) housing
to change the rules regarding the design of rehabilitation plans, and introduces stronger
sanctions against squatter housing.
United Kingdom Housing Bill
This draft legislation which is expected to be enacted in 2004 includes the following
provisions: replacing current housing fitness standard with evidence-based Housing
Health and Safety Rating System; improving controls on houses in multiple occupation,
including a mandatory national licensing scheme to tackle inadequate basic
facilities/management problems; local authorities will be able to license private landlords
in areas where there is a particular problem, such as anti-social behaviour; introducing
home information packs, which make key information needed by buyer and seller
available at start of process; further modernising the right-to-buy scheme to tackle abuses
and curb profiteering; introducing measures for local authorities to tackle anti-social
behaviour in social housing; amending the powers of the Housing Corporation and NAW
to fund bodies other than registered social landlords; establishment of a Social Housing
Ombudsman for Wales to investigate complaints against social landlords; the extension of
eligibility for the disabled facilities grant to all those occupying caravans as their only or
main residence.
3.4 Recent Developments
in Housing Quality Regulation
This Section examines recent developments in the
regulation by government of housing quality. These
include building regulations and new initiatives in
housing construction, health issues that are related to
building quality and measures to encourage environmentally
sustainable housing construction.
3.4.1 Building Regulations and New
Initiatives in Housing Construction
All of the EU member States and applicant countries
have building regulations and standards in place to
control the technical aspects of housing provision and
maintenance. In some countries, including Spain and
Italy, local and regional authorities determine the
regulations but most countries appear to set building
standards at national level. As revealed in Table 3.4.1,
which examines recent technical developments in
housing and changes to building regulations in
European countries, most countries have amended
their building standards legislation to incorporate more
stringent criteria in terms of energy efficiency,
particularly with respect to thermal insulation.
Other changes in building codes include measures to
address noise reduction, the standardisation of
construction materials and techniques and the
provision of access for disabled persons. A number of
countries are also implementing measures to ensure
that the refurbishment and maintenance of their
existing housing stock incorporates their most recent
building regulations.
In many cases, these recent changes are driven by the
need to implement EU directives on the construction
sector, the most recent of which concern the regulation
of building products and the introduction of an energy
rating scale for buildings. As in the case of many of the
developments in housing law discussed in Section 3.3,
the new member States and applicant countries have
significantly reformed their building regulations to
conform to EU requirements, while in recent years the
long-standing member States have made more
incremental changes, many of which relate to
promoting sustainable construction and energy
practices, reflecting a growing concern for the natural
environment.
3.4.2 Health in Buildings
Of the 28 countries examined in this review, 9
provided information in relation to health in buildings
such as asbestos, radon gas, lead poisoning and of the
policies devised to address these problems, if any. Of
these countries, only Spain and Romania reported that
no major health problems have been encountered to
date with regard to health in buildings, although
114 European Union Report
Regular National Report on Housing Developments in European Countries
115