The procedure for legalizing illegal buildings has been slowed down even two months after the law came into force because the cadastre and municipal services, due to the lack of satellite and aerial photogrammetric images, are only receiving but not processing requests.
According to the law, the Ministry was obliged to make the recording available within 30 days, which expired on September 14. Now, the Ministry has told "Vijesti" that it will be available at the beginning of November.
The deadline for legalizing illegally constructed buildings is five years, or until August 14, 2030, but for owners of illegal buildings that are not registered in the cadastre, in whole or in part, the deadline for submitting the registration of the illegal building in the real estate register is February 14, 2026, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property reported to "Vijesti".
The law entered into force on 14 August, while the regulations and forms were posted on the official website legalizuj.me at the end of last week. Regional cadastral units receive requests from owners of illegal buildings for registration in the cadastre, but do not verify them because they do not yet have access to satellite and aerial photogrammetric images. The Ministry expects the images to be available in early November. Most municipalities have not made decisions on the costs of legalization - urban rehabilitation fees, and the deadline for this is 14 November.
This follows from the responses that "Vijesti" received from the relevant ministry.
"In accordance with the Law on the Legalization of Illegal Objects, owners of illegal objects whose objects are not registered in the real estate cadastre are obliged, within six months from the date of entry into force of this law, to initiate the procedure for registering the object in the cadastre records (submit a request for registration of the illegal object in the real estate register). This deadline expires on February 14, 2026. Objects that are not registered in the cadastre will not be able to be legalized and will not be able to be put into circulation. We also note that the registration in the real estate cadastre of an illegal object that is not recorded on a satellite and aerial photogrammetric image taken in July 2025 is prohibited. The validity of this Law is limited to five years and all owners of illegally constructed objects have a deadline to hand over and legalize illegally constructed objects during this period," the Ministry stated.
Orthophotograph at the beginning of November
When asked whether the municipalities and the cadastre have received orthophotos and satellite images, the Ministry stated that they expect the images to be delivered to the Ministry in early November.
"When the Ministry receives the finally processed image, it will be available on the Geoportal located on the Ministry's website," the department stated.
After conducting a tender, the Ministry signed a contract with the sole bidder, the company "Vekom Geo" from Belgrade, on July 18th of this year, for the production of satellite imagery.
"Vijesti" forwarded a question from a reader to this Ministry, who said that the Podgorica cadastre told him that his request could be processed in two to three months.
"According to the information we have, the real estate cadastre receives requests from owners of illegal buildings with detailed reports on the condition of the building, but does not verify them until satellite and aerial photogrammetric images are available," the Ministry stated.
Municipalities are still calculating costs
When asked why there is no data on the legalizuj.me website about the costs of legalization and when they will be known, the Ministry indicated that this data can be requested from municipalities.
"According to the Law, local self-government units adopt Decisions on urban rehabilitation fees, which list the fees by zones of each local self-government unit, so that citizens can see the prices on the websites of local self-government units. Decisions on urban rehabilitation fees that were adopted on the basis of the previous law are still valid, and local self-government units have a period of three months from the adoption of the Law (until November 14) to harmonize their decisions with the new Law on the Legalization of Illegal Structures," the Ministry stated.
Regulations and forms on the website
They pointed out that, according to the Law, the Ministry has a period of three months from the date of entry into force of the Law to adopt regulations for the legalization procedure.
"Pending the harmonization of regulations, regulations adopted on the basis of the authorization from the derogated Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Facilities shall apply. However, the Ministry adopted two regulations even before the expiration of the specified deadline, namely: the Regulation on the form of the request for the legalization of illegal facilities and the Regulation on the content of the minutes of the inspection of an illegal facility. The aforementioned regulations were adopted on 02.10.2025. and have been available on the Ministry's website and on the specialized website legalizuj.me since October 10.
257 requests submitted in Podgorica
So far, 257 requests from citizens have been received for the legalization of illegal buildings in the territory of Podgorica, in accordance with the new law adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro at the end of July.
Although they do not yet have the basis for acting on these requests - satellite and aerial photogrammetric images, the Secretariat for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development of the Capital City claims that they are acting on these requests, but they do not explain how.
The capital has not yet adopted a Decision on urban rehabilitation fees, in accordance with the provisions of the new Law on Legalization of Buildings, so it is not yet known how much legalization will cost citizens, whether citizens will be able to pay the amounts in installments, or whether there will be any benefits for certain categories of the population.
The Secretariat does not have data on the total number of illegal structures in the territory of Podgorica. However, the local government body is telling citizens that it is most important that those who have not done so request the registration of their illegal structures in the real estate cadastre by the beginning of February.
"After registration, you can start submitting a request for legalization. The cadastral records of all buildings, including illegal ones, are maintained by the Real Estate Administration," the Secretariat said, adding that the deadlines for legalization are "defined by the new law."
On July 31, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted a new Law on Legalization, so those who have illegally built buildings in which they live will be able to pay compensation for urban rehabilitation in monthly installments over 30 years.
The Law on Legalization of Illegal Buildings, among other things, prescribes the obligation to register the building in the real estate cadastre within six months, after which the owners will no longer be able to register the building in the cadastral records.
According to the law, an illegal object can be legalized even if it is shown on a satellite or aerial photogrammetric image.
Podgorica is working on pricing
The Secretariat said that the Decision on Urban Remediation Compensation, which must be harmonized with the Law on Legalization, is being worked on, so until it is adopted, the current act is in effect.
The Secretariat for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development told "Vijesti" that satellite and aerial photogrammetric images "are not yet publicly available."
"The state administration body responsible for spatial planning and construction (Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property) is obliged to provide the recording and make it available on the Geoportal, which is located on the department's website. The Ministry is obliged to provide everyone with access to the Geoportal, in an equal manner and under equal conditions, in accordance with the law. All submitted requests for legalization are in the processing phase," they said.
Required documentation
Along with the request for legalization, the Secretariat said, a sample of the detailed study of the actual condition of the illegal object "prepared by a licensed geodetic organization" is submitted.
"... Which is certified by the administrative body responsible for cadastral affairs, photographs of all facades of the illegal building in JPG format with a minimum resolution of five megapixels, proof of the recording of the existence of the building in the cadastral records, i.e. an extract from the real estate cadastre or other appropriate real estate records. For an illegal collective building, the legalization procedure for the entire building is initiated by submitting a request for legalization by at least one condominium owner. The study contains in particular the following data: gross and net area of the illegal building, position and coordinates of the building on the cadastral plot, distance of the building from the borders of the neighboring cadastral plot, position of the building in relation to the regulation line and photographs of the current condition of the building," the Secretariat said.
Legalization is possible, if it is not on a plot of public interest.
The issue of legalizing illegal buildings was also assessed by councilors in the Capital City Assembly as being of great importance to citizens. Thus, a councilor from the Party of European Progress (SEP) had a question for the Secretary of the Secretariat for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development of the Capital City, Gavrilo Vuković.
Mugoš was interested in how the Capital City would make the legalization process easier for citizens.
Vuković replied that they had not yet received an aerial photogrammetric survey from the competent department, so they could neither adopt nor reject the requests for legalization of illegal structures.
The Secretary points out that Article 6 of the Law stipulates that a facility shall be legalized if, among other things, it is "not built on an area designated by a planning document for the construction of infrastructure and other facilities of general interest."
When it comes to citizen requests submitted under the previous Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Facilities, Vuković points out that the majority were rejected due to incomplete documentation.
It is possible to submit an application even if there is no valid DUP for that settlement.
A reader of "Vijesti" was also interested in whether requests for legalization of facilities located in settlements for which there are currently no valid detailed urban plans (the existing ones have expired) can now be submitted.
"According to the Law, planning documents are no longer one of the conditions for legalization, unless the facility is located in protection zones, so that owners of illegal facilities whose facilities are located in the aforementioned settlements can begin the legalization process. There are general conditions for legalization, namely: that the illegal facility is recorded on a satellite and aerial photogrammetric image, that it is registered in the real estate cadastre, that it is not built on an area designated by a planning document for the construction of infrastructure and other facilities of general interest, that its surface area or part of the surface area does not exceed the regulatory line or the line of the ownership plot; if the facility is built on an area for which there is no valid planning document - that the property and legal relations on the facility and the land on which the illegal facility is built have been resolved," the Ministry stated.
Inspector obliged to issue fines if there is no satellite image within 30 days
According to the Law, the spatial protection inspector shall in particular check whether the Ministry, within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this Law, has provided the recording referred to in Article 7 of this Law and made it available on the Geoportal located on the Ministry's website.
"When, during the inspection procedure, he assesses that a law or other regulation has been violated, the spatial protection inspector is obliged to: order the Ministry to provide the recording referred to in Article 7 of this Law within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this Law and make it available on the Geoportal located on the Ministry's website," the Law on Legalization states.
It is also defined that a fine of between 60 euros and 4.000 euros will be imposed on the responsible person in a state administration body, the responsible person in a competent local administration body and the responsible person in a local self-government unit, if they fail to provide the recording referred to in Article 7 of this Law and make it available on the Geoportal located on the Ministry's website within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this Law.
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