- Hello, I might not be in the right place here, but I urgently need advice from experts.
- 10
We recently bought a two-family house and are currently renovating... and as is often the case, problems are now arising.
First, the garage was added later and is apparently a bit too wide, so it crosses the neighbor’s property line.
Years ago, the garage was converted into living space (two office rooms) without permission from the neighbor or the building authorities. Behind it, an extension was built (two rooms, bathroom, corridor), which was approved, but it also apparently crosses the property line by a few centimeters.
The original house has living space upstairs and downstairs. We would use the lower part together with the extension and rent out the upper apartment. Now to the main problem... there is only one main entrance from the street.
If both parties used this entrance, we would have to walk through the kitchen to get to the living room, and the access to the upper apartment would be open – which tenant would want that?
Therefore, that entrance should be only for the upper apartment.
Our entrance should be created in the former garage, as we don’t really need those rooms anymore; it would just become a long corridor. But the neighbor is opposing this, understandably, since he has only experienced disadvantages so far.
He insists that the garage door remains (from the outside it would still look like a garage).
I’ve already Googled and called the city building authority... they want me to call on Monday to review the plans... but I would like to know now if there are possibilities?
Our garage adjoins the neighbor’s garage, with a white door between them, as is common in garages.
I thought it might help to install a partition wall (drywall) inside with a 1m (3 feet) gap, and not place the door in the middle so that the distance could be maintained. But I keep reading about a 3m (10 feet) distance?? The house is located in NRW, a rather rural area.
What do you think about the idea?[INDENT]Completely removing the garage door and using the garage as an open passage? At the back, we could build it so that we have a house entrance.
That would probably be easier to get approved by the authorities than turning the registered garage into a long corridor and placing the front door there.
Is something like this allowed??? Please respond, this is really giving me a headache.
[/INDENT]
I sent a private message...
I can't make the passage through unless I tear down the garage; then I would probably be allowed to break through the wall to the kitchen and install a door. Here is a rough sketch. I am now considering placing the entrance next to the basement stairs and making an opening through the kitchen (separating the kitchen with a half-height drywall partition, it would still be large enough, about 25m² (270 sq ft)). What do you think of this idea? I'm running out of ideas. The entrance wouldn’t be ideal, as there would be about 1m (3 feet) of space due to the basement stairs, but I could live with that. My husband could hide the basement stairs behind drywall and a door...
I can't make the passage through unless I tear down the garage; then I would probably be allowed to break through the wall to the kitchen and install a door. Here is a rough sketch. I am now considering placing the entrance next to the basement stairs and making an opening through the kitchen (separating the kitchen with a half-height drywall partition, it would still be large enough, about 25m² (270 sq ft)). What do you think of this idea? I'm running out of ideas. The entrance wouldn’t be ideal, as there would be about 1m (3 feet) of space due to the basement stairs, but I could live with that. My husband could hide the basement stairs behind drywall and a door...
W
werkfried14 Jan 2014 15:48Hello ano,
could you please provide the square meters of the rented apartment and the planned monthly net rent excluding utilities?
How old is the heating system and other technical equipment?
What are the costs of the renovation, including the new front door for the tenant?
Is the difficult neighbor compatible with the tenant? (You are entering a triangular relationship here.) Or does every trip to the garbage bin have to be done in a crouching mode?
Let’s say the renovation costs $10,000, and you have a monthly rent of $350 net excluding utilities, then the renovation pays off after about 29 months of renting, assuming you have the cash available now.
From my own experience, I know that for every rental property, you should always have at least the money for a new heating system readily available as a reserve once the system gets older.
How much more do you have to invest in the apartment to make it rentable, and is it worth it?
Especially if you depend on the tenant’s rent, you need to carefully consider every invested cent.
Just a thought for you to consider.
could you please provide the square meters of the rented apartment and the planned monthly net rent excluding utilities?
How old is the heating system and other technical equipment?
What are the costs of the renovation, including the new front door for the tenant?
Is the difficult neighbor compatible with the tenant? (You are entering a triangular relationship here.) Or does every trip to the garbage bin have to be done in a crouching mode?
Let’s say the renovation costs $10,000, and you have a monthly rent of $350 net excluding utilities, then the renovation pays off after about 29 months of renting, assuming you have the cash available now.
From my own experience, I know that for every rental property, you should always have at least the money for a new heating system readily available as a reserve once the system gets older.
How much more do you have to invest in the apartment to make it rentable, and is it worth it?
Especially if you depend on the tenant’s rent, you need to carefully consider every invested cent.
Just a thought for you to consider.
The apartment upstairs is about 70 square meters (750 square feet) but is not rented out yet. I expect a cold rent of around 300. Not much needs to be done upstairs. The kitchen and bathroom need tiling, which we will do ourselves with our team—my husband is a craftsman. We’re getting the tiles for free... but it probably won’t be finished until summer. For now, we’re focusing on our downstairs apartment, which should be ready by March 1 or April 1.
The heating system will be completely replaced. Until now, it was oil-heated, and hot water was provided by an electric tankless water heater, so powered by electricity. Hopefully, soon everything will run on the new gas heating. The gas connection will cost us 300 euros (about $320), which I’ve already arranged with the gas supplier. We’re currently getting quotes for the heating system, underfloor heating in the living room and bathroom downstairs, some radiators, water connections, and sanitary fixtures... We already have one quote, so we will see what others charge. We have about 20,000 euros (about $21,500) set aside for this. It has to be done anyway, so we can’t really weigh rent income against costs. An empty apartment is not an option in the long run; it will just deteriorate, and renovation costs will only rise in a few years.
As for the current status, the downstairs apartment is being gutted. The old gypsum ceilings have been removed, wallpapers stripped, and in the next days, we will start removing tiles from the bathroom and living room. My husband is doing all the drywall work himself—ceilings, boxing in the bathroom, partition walls... The filling and plastering will also be done by ourselves.
The entrance will remain as it is for now. We will make an opening inside so that the entrance/passage goes through the dining room (which used to be the kitchen; we just swapped the rooms). We need to figure out a sensible way to separate the upstairs and downstairs apartments. I will consult a friend who is an architect to see if he has any good ideas. I expect we’ll just build drywall partitions and install lockable doors for each unit. There aren’t many other options. Next to the basement stairs won’t work; there’s just not enough space. An entrance from the back is absolutely not an option in my opinion.
The neighbor is elderly, just had surgery, and is now going to rehab. I don’t think we’ll have any real problems with each other, as long as I don’t change anything about the garage... The trash bins are on the other side behind the house, so if there is any issue, it would probably be with the neighbor on the left.
We’ve now decided to make the best of the situation... There’s no point in arguing with the building authorities or neighbors. If anyone has a good idea for the entrance, I’m open to suggestions. It’s not too late to change the plan.
Thanks for the contributions so far... many have already been helpful!
The heating system will be completely replaced. Until now, it was oil-heated, and hot water was provided by an electric tankless water heater, so powered by electricity. Hopefully, soon everything will run on the new gas heating. The gas connection will cost us 300 euros (about $320), which I’ve already arranged with the gas supplier. We’re currently getting quotes for the heating system, underfloor heating in the living room and bathroom downstairs, some radiators, water connections, and sanitary fixtures... We already have one quote, so we will see what others charge. We have about 20,000 euros (about $21,500) set aside for this. It has to be done anyway, so we can’t really weigh rent income against costs. An empty apartment is not an option in the long run; it will just deteriorate, and renovation costs will only rise in a few years.
As for the current status, the downstairs apartment is being gutted. The old gypsum ceilings have been removed, wallpapers stripped, and in the next days, we will start removing tiles from the bathroom and living room. My husband is doing all the drywall work himself—ceilings, boxing in the bathroom, partition walls... The filling and plastering will also be done by ourselves.
The entrance will remain as it is for now. We will make an opening inside so that the entrance/passage goes through the dining room (which used to be the kitchen; we just swapped the rooms). We need to figure out a sensible way to separate the upstairs and downstairs apartments. I will consult a friend who is an architect to see if he has any good ideas. I expect we’ll just build drywall partitions and install lockable doors for each unit. There aren’t many other options. Next to the basement stairs won’t work; there’s just not enough space. An entrance from the back is absolutely not an option in my opinion.
The neighbor is elderly, just had surgery, and is now going to rehab. I don’t think we’ll have any real problems with each other, as long as I don’t change anything about the garage... The trash bins are on the other side behind the house, so if there is any issue, it would probably be with the neighbor on the left.
We’ve now decided to make the best of the situation... There’s no point in arguing with the building authorities or neighbors. If anyone has a good idea for the entrance, I’m open to suggestions. It’s not too late to change the plan.
Thanks for the contributions so far... many have already been helpful!
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