How new building law will affect you

KAMPALA - President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law a Bill on building that spells out tough penalties for non-compliance.

The Building Control (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was passed by Parliament on September 3, 2025, is among the three that the President signed into law at State House Entebbe, according to a statement from the President’s press team issued on Thursday (February 19, 2026).

The other legislations that were also enacted by the House last year are; The Mortgage Refinance Institutions Bill, 2025, and The Valuation Bill, 2025.

The new building control law says offenders risk jail terms of up to 12 years or fines of up to shillings 10 million, or both.

It was presented in Parliament in April last year for approval by works and transport state minister Fred Byamukama.

Byamukama told the House that the Bill was designed to address the gaps in the Building Control Act, Cap. 136 relating to the composition and powers of the National Building Review Board (NBRB), composition of building committees and the procedure for approval of building and occupational permits.

“In particular, the Bill seeks to align the composition of the board (NBRB) and building committees, and increase the penalty for persons who carry out building operations without a valid building permit issued by a building committee,” he said.

Byamukama also said that, in particular, the new law seeks to streamline the procedure for approval of building permits and occupation permits where a building committee fails to make a decision on an application for a building permit or occupation permit.

Any person whose negligence causes or leads to the occurrence of an accident on a building or a building construction site, which results in the injury or death of another person or the destruction of property, risks a fine of upto  500 currency points (shillings 10 million) or imprisonment of up to 12 years, or both.

The proposed fine for building without a valid permit is one currency point (shillings 20,000) per square meter of the area or imprisonment of up to two years, or both.
Section 34 of the current law says anyone convicted pays a fine of up to 50 currency points (shillings one million) or imprisonment of up to two years, or both, irrespective of how big the building is.

The new law also provides express penalties for certain offences and empowers a building committee to demolish or order the evacuation of buildings constructed in contravention of the Act.

“In the current law, you have to go through the legal process to penalize non-compliant developers but this one says once they find you contravening the Act, you will be penalised there and then and your site sealed off until you abide by the law,” Eng. Joseph Acai, the NBRB manager of investigations, told New Vision Online.
He explained that an average three-roomed house is about 30 square meters, which means a fine is shillings 600,000 if found building without a permit.

“Generally, we look at the minimum room sizes of about 3x3 meters or 3.2 to 3.2 metres. If, for example, you are walking and every step you make is equivalent to a meter, it means you walk three steps in one direction and you turn 90 degrees and walk the next three steps, which is a 3x3 meter room. So, if you have a larger building, you pay more,” Acai explained.

Eng. Anthony Rucukye, the former NBRB manager of investigations, said the new law gives the board powers to enforce it instead of relying entirely on other authorities such as Kampala Capital City Authority.

He said the proposed penalty fees, if approved, would serve as a major deterrent to other would-be offenders and prevent building-related accidents.

“Express penalties are welcome in a built environment where you have a structure that will potentially kill people. If they come and find a building without a building permit, they fine you, and you pay,” Rucukye said.