A man from Vilnius arbitrarily reconstructed the roof and walls of an apartment building: he faces a fine of even 2300 euros – MadeinVilnius.lt

Buying real estate is one of the most important steps in many people’s lives. Newcomers or already established residents who want to comfortably install a new or re-plan an old apartment in an apartment building face a variety of challenges and risks that should not be ignored. Unfortunately, a frequent construction participant still forgets to take care of the construction permit document (SLD) (when it is mandatory) and starts work without it.

One such case of arbitrary construction was found by the State Territory Planning and Construction Inspectorate under the Ministry of Environment (Construction Inspectorate) after conducting an inspection in a multi-apartment residential building on Rudens St., Vilnius. The resident of the apartment building carried out house reconstruction works by rebuilding the supporting structures of the roof and walls of the existing building (installing them anew) and thereby increasing the external dimensions of the building. During the inspections, it was recorded that the walls of the second floor of the building were raised by additionally installing 4 rows of blocks, a masonry ring and a new roof structure.

The builder was issued with acts of arbitrary construction for the completed works and mandatory instructions not to carry out any construction work, giving a deadline to remove the effects of arbitrary construction, that is, to dismantle the arbitrarily rebuilt supporting structures of the residential building in such a way as to correspond to the data of cadastral measurements by the specified date.

The builder faces administrative liability for the violations committed – the arbitrary reconstruction of a non-special structure incurs a fine from EUR 1,200 to EUR 2,300.

The Building Inspectorate reminds that building reconstruction is construction whose purpose is to rebuild the building: to change the supporting structures of the building by changing the external dimensions of the building (length, width, height, etc.). It is considered that supporting structures are rebuilt when: new floors are built; a new basement is installed, the existing one is expanded; a part of the existing floors is demolished; an extension is delivered to the building (or built between adjacent buildings), if the delivery of this extension changes, weakens, strengthens, etc. supporting structures of the existing structure; replacement of any supporting structures with other supporting structures, installation of new supporting structures, removal of part of the existing supporting structures.