Building permit in Republika Srpska: what needs one, steps and fees in Trebinje

Anyone who builds a new structure on a farm, extends an existing one, adds a floor to it, or changes its use through building works needs a building permit (građevinska dozvola). This applies to farmers, rural household owners and small businesses in Trebinje and nearby municipalities. This text follows the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction (Zakon o uređenju prostora i građenju) with its last amendment in Official Gazette of RS no. 84/19. The City of Trebinje cites the same version in its April 2026 guide. Draft amendments were sent forward in December 2025, so before you apply, ask the Department for Spatial Planning (Odjeljenje za prostorno uređenje) whether they have been adopted since.

In short

• You may start building only on the basis of a building permit decision, except for the structures listed in Article 125 (Article 124).
• The office decides on a request with complete documents within 15 days (Article 131). The City of Trebinje guide gives the same time limit. A city leaflet on request status mentions a shorter 5 days, but the legal time limit is 15 days.
• The permit lapses if construction does not start within three years of the day the permit became enforceable (Article 136).
• A building put up without a permit cannot be connected to utilities or other infrastructure (Article 124). A private person who builds without a permit is fined 500 to 5,000 KM, a company 5,000 to 30,000 KM (Articles 178 and 188).

Who it applies to

The investor: the owner or user of the land in whose name the building is put up. A permit is needed for a new house, a guesthouse, a dairy or other processing building, a restaurant or other catering building, and for extensions, added floors, reconstruction and change of use. If a structure is not on the Article 125 list and the work is not adaptation or maintenance, you need a permit. Ask the Department whether a small barn or shed next to your house counts as an auxiliary building under Article 125.

For an individual residential or residential-commercial building under 400 m2 gross area, except complex buildings, location conditions are not required in an area covered by an implementation plan or outside urban areas. In that case urban-technical conditions are submitted with the request, and the office checks that they match the plan in force (Article 128).

What can be built without a permit

Article 125 lists the exceptions. The ones that matter most for a farm or guest accommodation are:

• auxiliary buildings such as a garage, summer kitchen or storeroom, and work on the plot (paths, a paved area, a garden pool or fish pond, a fence, a garden fireplace) next to an individual residential or residential-commercial building that has a permit;
• canopies, greenhouses, water tanks and septic tanks on the plot of an individual house that has a permit;
• polytunnels used only for agricultural production;
• cantilever awnings for a summer terrace on a building that has a permit;
• automatic anti-hail stations, temporary structures for fairs and public events that must be removed within 90 days, and works that give access to people with reduced mobility.

Neither a permit nor location conditions are needed for adaptation and maintenance (Article 2). Adaptation includes rearranging the space inside a building for a different activity, but only if the load-bearing structure, the exterior and the conditions of the existing permit stay unchanged. If you plan to turn a storeroom into guest rooms, ask the Department whether this counts as adaptation or as a change of use that needs a permit. After a natural disaster, structures needed to deal with its effects may be built without a permit, but they must be removed when no longer needed, or a permit must be obtained for them within six months (Article 126).

The municipality or city sets the permitted floor area and height of the listed structures in its own decision, so check these before you start. For these structures the investor reports the works to the urban-building inspectorate, and the works are carried out on the basis of a conceptual design, location conditions and a setting-out record. If you want to register an auxiliary building in the public real-estate records, you need a building permit (Article 125, paragraph 5).

What to do

1. Obtain location conditions (lokacijski uslovi) from the Department for Spatial Planning, except in the case of Article 128, paragraph 3. The time limit is 15 days from a complete request (Article 64). If you do not apply for the permit within a year, you will need a certificate that the conditions have not changed (Article 66).
2. Have a licensed company prepare the main design (glavni projekat) in three copies. The design goes through technical review, except for individual residential and residential-commercial buildings up to 200 m2 gross area that are not complex buildings. For those, the designer signs a statement that the design solutions comply (Articles 113 and 114a).
3. Prepare proof of property rights: an extract from the public real-estate records and a contract or decision that gives ownership or the right to build. If the land has several owners, also attach the contract between the investor and all co-owners (Article 129).
4. If the building requires an environmental permit or a decision approving an environmental impact study, attach that document (Article 128).
5. Fill in the application form. You can get it at the Citizens Service Centre on the ground floor of the City Administration (Vuka Karadžića 2) or at the Permits Centre for business and construction, or download it from the City website. The completed form with attachments is filed at the Citizens Service Centre. Attachments must be originals or certified copies not older than six months.
6. Before the permit is granted, the Department issues a decision on the rent (renta) and the fee for developing city building land. You submit proof of payment, or an agreement on how you will pay, when the office asks for it (Article 128, paragraph 2).
7. Notify the urban-building inspectorate at least eight days before works begin (Article 132). The contractor registers the site with the labour inspectorate at least seven days before work starts (Article 139).
8. Before construction starts, request setting out of the building (iskolčavanje, Article 138), and after completion a technical inspection and a use permit (upotrebna dozvola). The building may not be used, including for guests, until the use permit is issued (Article 140).
9. For an Article 125 structure, attach proof that you paid the fees under Article 74 to the setting-out request (Article 125, paragraph 3).

Deadlines and amounts

Amounts are from the City of Trebinje price list published in April 2026. Confirm them with the Department before paying.

• Location conditions: 50 KM for an individual house with a ground floor and up to one upper floor (P+1), 100 KM for a taller house and for a residential-commercial house up to P+1, 200 KM for a taller residential-commercial house. For a business building the fee is 100 KM up to 50 m2, 150 KM up to 100 m2 and 200 KM from 100 to 400 m2. Reconstruction, extension, added floors and change of use cost 80 KM, a holiday house 100 KM, and Article 125 structures 40 KM. A city administrative fee of 20 KM is added.
• Building permit: the survey and cadastre contribution is 0.3% of the value of the construction works. According to the guide, the city administrative fee is 0.3 per mille of that value, at least 20 KM. The price list gives the same fee as 0.3%. That is a tenfold difference (on works worth 100,000 KM, 30 KM or 300 KM), so ask the Department for the exact figure.
• Rent depends on the zone. The 2026 basis is 1,599.90 KM per m2 (Decision on the basis for calculating rent, Official Gazette of the City of Trebinje no. 1/26), and with the rates in the City table (6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1%) rent is 95.99, 80.00, 64.00, 48.00, 32.00 and 16.00 KM per m2 for zones I to VI. The City's price list shows 115.19 KM per m2 for zone I, so confirm the zone I amount with the Department before paying. The fee for developing city building land ranges from 59.66 to 138.53 KM per m2. It is reduced by 50% for auxiliary buildings and by 25% for business buildings used for production. If you paid the fee for converting agricultural land into building land, the rent is reduced by that amount.
• Setting out: 80 KM for an individual house up to P+1, 100 KM for a residential-commercial house up to P+1, 40 KM for an extension and for Article 125 structures, 80 KM for a holiday house, plus a city fee of 2 KM.
• Technical inspection: 1.00 KM per m2 for an individual house and its extension or added floor, 1.50 KM per m2 for an individual residential-commercial building, 150 KM for business premises up to 50 m2, 200 KM from 50 to 100 m2, 2.00 KM per m2 above 100 m2, 60 KM for Article 125 structures. The city fee is 22 KM.
• For a guesthouse or guest pension, ask the Department which category of the price list applies.

Where to go

• Department for Spatial Planning (Odjeljenje za prostorno uređenje), Trebinje City Administration: Vuka Karadžića 13, e-mail prostornouredjenje.nacelnik@trebinje.rs.ba. Status of requests: 059 273 472. Permits Centre for business and construction (Centar za dozvole iz oblasti preduzetništva i građenja): 059 273 460 and 059 273 473, open to the public 9:00 to 13:00.
• In other East Herzegovina municipalities, go to the spatial planning department of your own municipality.
• If a building is already up without a permit, the same Department handles legalization.
• If you build without a permit, the urban-building inspector can order the building demolished and the site restored at the investor's cost (Article 171).
• Registration and categorisation of accommodation are covered in the articles "Rural tourism registration in Republika Srpska: steps, fees, Trebinje offices" and "Categorising a rural household offering accommodation in Republika Srpska".

Laws and sources

• Law on Spatial Planning and Construction (Službeni glasnik RS no. 40/13, 106/15 and 84/19, with Constitutional Court decisions 2/15 and 104/18 and correction 3/16), Arts. 2, 64, 66, 113, 114a, 124 to 140, 171, 178 and 188
• Guide to location and building permits, City of Trebinje
• Guide to the building permit process in the City of Trebinje (2026)
• Decision on the basis for calculating rent, Official Gazette of the City of Trebinje no. 1/26
• Price list of construction permits, City of Trebinje (2026)
• Building permit leaflet: request status and fees, City of Trebinje (2026)
• Engineering Chamber of RS notice on the draft amendments (13 Dec 2025)