Spatial conditions in a zoning plan (regulativy)

Spatial conditions (podmínky prostorového uspořádání), often called 'regulativy' in practice, are the part of a Czech zoning plan that sets, for each land-use zone, how dense, large and tall buildings in it may be. The plan sets them together with the main, permitted and prohibited uses of the zone (Section 80(2)(f) of the Building Act No. 283/2021 Coll.). They are in the text part of the plan, in the chapter on conditions for the use and spatial layout of zones (Annex 8 to the Building Act).

The most common conditions

The law does not list the individual indicators, and each plan may name and define them in its own way. Definitions proposed for the Ministry for Regional Development by the research project Standardising spatial regulation in zoning documentation (2024) describe the most common ones as follows:

• Plot coverage ratio (koeficient zastavění, KZP): the maximum share of a zone or plot that buildings may cover, for example 0.3 = 30%. It is based on the built-up area of buildings.
• Green space ratio (koeficient zeleně, KZ): the minimum share that must stay green on natural or landscaped ground connected to the subsoil.
• Range of building plot sizes: the minimum and possibly maximum size of a plot on which one main building may be placed.
• Height level (výšková hladina): the maximum height of buildings in metres or the maximum number of above-ground storeys.

A plan may combine the indicators into one code, the so-called intensity of land use (for example 0,6_0,3_4 for coverage ratio, green space ratio and storeys). What exactly counts towards each value is set by the text part of the specific plan, which may also define its own terms. Some plans, for example, include paved areas in the coverage.

Do they apply to all buildings or only to new sites?

A plan may phrase conditions only for development areas (new sites) or only for new buildings, and set different rules, or no numerical ones, for stabilised zones with existing buildings. That is why the exact wording of each condition matters: a coverage ratio for 'newly defined building plots' need not apply to the garden of an existing house in the same way as to a plot on a new site. The building authority interprets it in a specific case.

A zoning plan is binding for decisions on land use (Section 73 of the Building Act). The conditions therefore apply when something new is being permitted: an extension, an extra storey or a new house. For a house that already fails to meet them, they apply at the next change: further increasing the built-up area or height would not comply with the plan.

What it means for a buyer

• Building plot: the coverage ratio and height level decide how large a house can be built. As an illustration: on an 800 m² plot with a coverage ratio of 0.3, buildings may cover at most 240 m², under most plans' definitions the house, garage and other buildings together.
• House with a garden: the range of plot sizes shows whether the garden could be split off for another house, and the coverage ratio how much room is left for an extension.
• Surroundings: the same conditions apply to neighbouring plots and limit how dense development nearby may become.

Watch out for

• Most plans in force today were made under the previous Building Act No. 183/2006 Coll. and its Decree No. 500/2006 Coll., which gave as examples height regulation, the character and structure of development, the range of building plot sizes and the intensity of their use. Such plans remain valid; municipal plans approved before 1 January 2007 at the latest until 31 December 2028 (Section 322 of the Building Act).
• Conditions are changed by a zoning plan amendment; always work with the latest consolidated version.
• A regulatory plan may set more detailed rules for part of a municipality.
• A major amendment to the Building Act was signed in September 2026, with its main part due to apply from 1 January 2027.