ᐅ Purchase of a vacant farmhouse in a rural area outside the built-up zone

Hello everyone,

I am new here and urgently need some advice. We have fallen in love with an old farmhouse located in a district of our municipality (in Brandenburg). One reason we like the property so much is that it lies on the edge of several fields, with the nearest neighboring house approximately 50–200m (55–220 yards) away. Visually, the property is clearly distinct from the nearby settlement.

A few days ago, we learned that the current owner is willing to sell the farmhouse to us. We immediately started researching and arranged an appointment with the building authority, which will take place soon. During our research, we came across the topics of “outlying area” zoning and “scattered settlement,” which at first felt like a big setback, as we are generally only interested in properties like this. The farmhouse has probably been unoccupied for many years and apparently is not currently habitable (we have yet to do an interior inspection; there is significant damage to several roofs, though most exterior walls appear to be in acceptable condition).

We really want to buy this property and are willing to fight for it if there is a chance of success. Even just the land alone is worth the effort to us, so the poor condition of the buildings doesn’t discourage us much. We both have building experience, but as we are now realizing, not the legal or planning expertise. Our initial idea was, of course, to demolish at will and build a new, custom-designed house (construction would start no earlier than 2020). However, since we have read that the best we might achieve is to restore the existing residential buildings in the same form and in the same place, we would accept that too (although we don’t yet know exactly what counts as living space there, and we are tempted by the idea of turning one of the barns into a living room).

We feel quite overwhelmed and desperate and only have a few days to decide, as there are other interested parties. Could someone advise us on the best approach, what we should absolutely avoid, and what we need to be careful about? Is there a realistic chance of success? We know this probably isn’t a reasonable idea and that it will be a difficult path, but we want to give it a try.

Thanks in advance!