The Council of Ministers approved on December 7, 2024 a draft law about the reconstruction of the buildings that were damaged or destroyed as a result of the recent war in Lebanon, as well as a draft decree to forward the draft law to Parliament.  Article 1 stipulates that the reconstruction of buildings that were destroyed in full or in part as a result of the recent war will be  subject to the following exceptional measures: first the owner of the property that is partially or fully destroyed can rebuild his/her building as it used to be, with the exception of the parts that trespass on public or private properties and of the parts that are affected by the already approved urban planning. Second, the owner can modify the property during its reconstruction on the condition to abide by the restrictions imposed in public properties and the already approved planning. It added that the owner can benefit only from the surface areas that are not part of the public or the roof investment parts, according to Construction Law 646/2004. Third, the reconstruction will be exempt from all the due fees, penalties and fiscal stamps, including the fees of the syndicates of engineers and for building permits,as long as the exemptions do not cover more surface areas than Construction Law 646/2004 allows.  Article 2 authorizes the owner of a property with violations to rebuild it, as long as the reconstruction is subject to the provisions of Law139/2019 dated July 9, 2019, and to adopt the year 2018 of the violation as long as the latter took place before January 1, 2019. It added that, in this case, the valuation will be assessed on the date of the violation, on the condition of paying the fees and penalties before getting the final housing license. It noted that this article does not apply to building erected on the property of others.  Article 4 indicates that the provisions of the law apply to fully or partially destroyed buildings from the recent war that will be rebuilt or that have been rebuilt prior to the enactment of this law.  Article 5 stipulates that the person who wants to reconstruct a building or property has to submit the file to the related administration,while the urban planning divisions in the governorates and local administrative districts open special files and issue permits based on a statement on the state of the destroyed buildings according to due process that the Higher Relief Council or the Council of the South issues. Article 7 indicates that the law goes into effect upon its publication in the Official Gazette.  The Council of Ministers attributed the reasons for the draft law to the recent war, as well as to theneed to support the affected citizens in order to find the proper legal framework, given the need to have a law related to the reconstruction after the recent war. The draft law is largely in line with Law 263 dated April 15, 2014 that the Parliament enacted for the reconstruction of the buildings that were destroyed by the war of 2006. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Byblos Bank, December 2-7, 2024