Estonian Chancellor of Justice challenges three more municipalities over infrastructure fees
Estonia's Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has petitioned the Supreme Court to void infrastructure-fee regulations in the town of Loksa and the municipalities of Jõelähtme and Viimsi, following an earlier similar complaint against Keila.
Estonian Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to declare invalid regulations on developer infrastructure fees adopted by three more local governments: the town of Loksa and the municipalities of Jõelähtme and Viimsi. She had earlier filed a similar complaint against the town of Keila.
In her petition dated October 1, Madise argues that a regulation adopted by the Jõelähtme municipal council on January 12, 2023, allows broader obligations to be imposed on parties interested in detailed spatial plans — that is, developers — than the Planning Act permits. In her assessment, the municipality set, without legal basis, a uniform social infrastructure fee of 6,500 euros per housing unit.
Madise says that in mid-April she asked the Jõelähtme council to bring the regulation into line with the Constitution, but the council has not withdrawn the disputed provisions, even though it acknowledged the regulation's constitutionality could trigger legal disputes. The council has disagreed with the Chancellor's main conclusions, citing municipal autonomy over planning matters and arguing that a developer's payment obligation arises from an administrative contract rather than directly from the regulation. Madise maintains the municipality lacks statutory authority to impose such a fee in this form.
She raised identical objections against the town of Loksa, which has also set a 6,500-euro fee for developers. Madise warned that refusing to pay such a fee could have adverse consequences for a developer: review of the spatial plan could be halted, the plan could be invalidated, or a building permit could be denied — outcomes she says have no legal basis.
In Viimsi, the regulation requires a developer to pay the municipality within a year of a detailed plan's approval — 5,000 euros per housing unit if the plan conforms to the general plan, or 10,000 euros if it entails amending the general plan. Madise finds this unconstitutional. She asked the municipality on May 4 to amend the regulation; the council said on May 11 it planned to do so but has not yet acted.
In May, Madise raised the same issue with the city of Tallinn, whose regulation charging developers to help fund public facilities she says also conflicts with the law in several respects.
