When neither is needed

The exemption rests on size and height together. Exceeding either condition brings the project into a procedure.

Condition	Value
Built-up area	up to 20 m²
Height	up to 5 m
Type of building	a dwelling and buildings needed to serve it

Under Annex 1 to the Building Code such a building is exempt from both a building notice and a permit application. Both conditions must be met at once: a building of 20 m² but 6 m high is not exempt.

According to professional sources the exemption covers every type of activity in that size category, including erection, reconstruction and demolition. Its application to a specific case must be checked against the Annex 1 in force, which has recently changed.

The Building Code amendments entered into force on 1 August 2026 and widened the scope of the exemption. The current wording must nonetheless be checked.

According to professional sources, non-residential buildings with a built-up area under 20 m² and a height of up to 5 m no longer require a building permit or a building notice. Small sales kiosks and sheds are cited as examples.

This extends the exemption to building types that did not previously fall into the category. The precise wording and scope must be checked against the legislation in force, since this information comes from commentary rather than from a primary source.

Here is the core of the article, and the point most often misread. Free construction does not mean building without rules.

What remains	Detail
Fire safety requirements	apply to free construction as well
Building exclusion zone	building there is not permitted
Distance from the plot boundary	not closer than 4 m without the neighbour's consent
The right of construction supervision	authorities retain it in these cases too

All conditions set by the various laws must always be met. The owner is themselves responsible for compliance with the requirements for the building and for building it, and that is the real content of the exemption: liability does not disappear, it transfers.

Three situations in which a small building is not exempt after all. They concern its location and its use.

Situation	How easily noticed
One of the conditions is not met, whether area or height	easy to check
Utility structures are added during construction	moderate
A special restriction applies: protection zone, heritage protection, a condition of the detailed plan	hardest to notice

The third row is the hardest to spot, because it follows from the location rather than from the properties of the building. The practical recommendation is to check the plot's restrictions even where the building is obviously small, since being small is no protection against a special restriction.

Two observations close the article. An exempt building is still entered in the building register in certain cases, which has to be checked, because the register is the starting point of this whole guide and a register entry affects any later sale.

Disputes between neighbours do not depend on the procedure. A shed built too close to the boundary is a problem even where no document had to be submitted, and four metres is a specific figure here rather than a recommendation.

The absence of a procedure therefore means that nobody checks beforehand, not that nobody ever checks. The substantive requirements still apply.

The exemption applies to buildings with a built-up area of up to 20 m² and a height of up to 5 m, and both conditions must be met at once. On 1 August 2026 it was extended to non-residential buildings such as small sales kiosks and sheds. The exemption concerns the procedure rather than the requirements: fire safety, the building exclusion zone, the four-metre distance from the plot boundary and construction supervision all remain, and liability passes to the owner.

Four rules: check both conditions together, since one alone is not enough. Check the plot's restrictions, which are independent of the exemption. Explain to the owner that liability transfers to them rather than disappearing. Check the Annex 1 in force, since the scope of the exemption changed on 1 August 2026.