Chancellor asks Supreme Court to strike down Keila developer fee
Wednesday 30th September 2026 on 13:45 in
Estonia
Estonia’s Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has asked the Supreme Court to invalidate a Keila city regulation requiring developers to pay an infrastructure fee, saying the city lacks a legal basis for imposing it. ERR reported the request was submitted this week to Supreme Court Chief Justice Villu Kõve.
The regulation, adopted by Keila’s city council in 2023, requires people interested in a detailed plan to pay the fee within a year of its approval. The charge is 4,000 euros per dwelling unit for a plan that conforms to the city’s comprehensive plan and 10,000 euros per unit if the detailed plan changes it. The fee applies to plans for at least four dwelling units.
If a developer refuses to sign an agreement to pay, the city can end work on the detailed plan and decline to approve it. The regulation also allows the city to refuse building or use permits for buildings planned under an approved detailed plan if the fee is not paid.
Madise asked the council in May to bring the regulation into line with the Constitution. The council said it agreed that cost-sharing agreements should be tied to the circumstances of a specific plan and that obligations should have a legal basis and be justified. The regulation has not been amended. The city said it needed to review it and, if necessary, make changes, but deferred a final position.
Madise told Kõve that the city had assumed powers beyond those granted by law. She said the Planning Act addresses the costs of building specific infrastructure, rather than allowing a general fee. In her view, the fee is a public-law financial obligation that may resemble a tax, and such an obligation requires a legal basis. She also said imposing payments not provided for by law restricts property rights and freedom of enterprise without legal authority.
In May, Madise raised a similar concern with Tallinn, arguing that a city regulation requiring property developers to help fund public construction projects conflicted with the law in several respects.