The legalization process challenges on Illegal constructions in Kosovo

A crucial point during the transition process of a country is the rule of law. This process is not easy and is often followed by negative outcomes. Illegal, uncontrolled and unplanned construction is one of them. This spreads process is usually very fast and spreads rapidly across the whole territory of the country. Similar to other countries of the Balkan Region, Kosovo has been dealing with this issue as well and has undergone a treatment process of equipping those buildings with legalizing permits. The law for constructions treatment without permit entered into force in 2014 and is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. As a result some building owners responded positively to the process and applied, however that number is not at a satisfying and in the recent months the process for legalization permits is being faced by a low number of applications. The main objective of this research is the identification of the actual challenges in the legalization process and how to turn them around to success. This will be achieved through data collection from legalization applicants and interviews with representative legalization officers from the Balkans who managed to have better results through a more simplified legalization process