Is the parcel buildable? Four registers that all have to agree
In listings, “buildable” means everything and nothing. In law, there is no single register of buildable parcels — there are four sources, each answering a different question. A parcel that looks buildable in one can be frozen for years in another.
The four sources of truth
| Source | What question it answers | Binding for construction? |
|---|---|---|
| EGiB (land registry) | what this land IS today: use class (B, R, Ls…) and soil grade | no — a registry of facts, not rights; feeds tax and statistics |
| MPZP (local plan) | what may be BUILT here: designation and ratios | yes — local law, directly binds the building permit |
| General plan (POG) | what will be POSSIBLE here: planning zone and standards | indirectly — binds future MPZPs and WZ decisions |
| WZ decision | what may be built WHEN there is no plan | yes — an individual decision for a specific investment |
The traps that catch buyers
- Use class “B” in the registry grants no right to build. It records the current state — the right to build comes from a plan or a WZ. Conversely, class “R” does not doom a parcel the plan designates for housing.
- Grade I–III farmland outside city limits is a serious obstacle: designating it for non-agricultural use in a plan requires the agriculture minister's consent. Within city administrative boundaries that consent is not required.
- “Good neighbourhood” for a WZ can kill edge-of-village parcels: if no developed parcel is accessible from the same public road, no WZ will be issued.
- No legal access to a public road blocks both the WZ and the permit — a neighbourly informal driveway without an easement is not access.
- Post-reform: no MPZP + location outside the general plan's infill area = a new WZ is inadmissible. This is a new category of permanently unbuildable parcels.
The pre-purchase checklist
- 1Check the use classes and soil grades in the land registry — they set the conversion path and cost.
- 2Establish whether the parcel is covered by an MPZP. If yes: read the designation AND the ratios (height, coverage, building line) — a designation without ratios is half an answer.
- 3If there is no plan: check the general-plan zone and whether the parcel sits inside the infill area — the precondition for any future WZ.
- 4Verify legal access to a public road (direct, via an internal road with a share, or an easement entered in the land register).
- 5Check constraints outside the plan: nature and heritage protection, flood hazard areas, cemetery and power-line buffers.
- 6Only then compare price — against recorded transactions for similar land nearby, not asking prices.
Centria's parcel report runs exactly this checklist automatically: registry use classes and grades, plan designation and parameters, the POG zone, environmental risks and road access — marking which data is official and which is missing.
Frequently asked questions
Read the decision itself: issued to whom, for what investment, and when. Old decisions are open-ended but describe a specific project — yours may not fit inside it. New ones expire after 5 years.
Farmstead development is a separate regime — it requires running a farm. For someone without farmer status, such a parcel is usually not a route to a family house.
Two separate processes: the designation change (in the plan) and the exclusion from agricultural production (a starosta decision with grade-dependent fees). Details and rates — in our farmland-conversion guide.
Check the parcel before you sign
The report runs the whole checklist for you — from registry use classes to the general-plan zone — and shows the result with references to sources.