The government-sponsored legislation which will defer the demolition of illegal builds until the new spatial planning bill for the legalisation of buildings meeting specific criteria is drawn up was passed in a 51-0 vote late at the end of an emergency session on Friday.

The moratorium on demolition will apply to illegal builds used as housing and for commercial buildings used for ongoing business operations where demolition would cause extensive business damage, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Ministry State Secretary Bojan Babič told MPs.

"The amendment construction bill does not bring legalisation of buildings but merely a deferral of the decision to demolish," said Babič.

The opposition Democratic Party (SDS) was the only party to express outright opposition to the proposal, while all parties agreed in the debate that a comprehensive piece of legislation is required to deal with spatial planning.

The government has already announced that a new spatial planning bill which is due to be drawn up by March 2014 will facilitate the legalisation of non-problematic illegal builds meeting strict criteria. Those which fail to meet the criteria will be demolished.

In a bid to safeguard against abuse of the moratorium, an amendment was endorsed that excludes from the deferral all illegal builds erected after the implementation of the amended construction act.