Hello everyone,
I’ve been following the forum for a while now, and finally, we’re ready to build our own home!
We have already found a very nice plot of land, but it is planned to be divided into two lots. There are already two interested buyers, namely us and our future building partner (who will also be building with the same construction company).
Now, the question is about access. Attached you can see the first site plan from the architect. Our plot would be the plot on the right. The land will be subdivided into three parcels, with both buyers jointly purchasing and sharing the small “access strip” 50/50 as a driveway.
Alternatively, we could purchase the entire right plot, and our neighbors would then have to create their access from the other road to the south. According to the building authority, both options are possible.
If we choose the option shown in the attachment, we would have to buy less land. The architect said that the right plot (with a small border adjustment) could be reduced to a maximum of 500sqm (5,382 sq ft). This is already somewhat expensive for us, but manageable. With the shared driveway, our plot would be “only” about 420sqm (4,521 sq ft), but we would presumably have to pay for half of the driveway. We were also told that we might save some costs on utility connections with a shared driveway.
Here are the questions we have:
Has anyone had experience with this kind of subdivision and could offer us advice? Of course, such an arrangement requires more communication with the neighbor. Also, we couldn’t use the driveway area ourselves for parking or anything like that. The neighbors would always be driving directly in front of our house. But financially, there might be advantages.
I would greatly appreciate any help and your thoughts! And if you have any general suggestions about the site plan, feel free to share those as well! (:
Best regards,
Fyddles
I’ve been following the forum for a while now, and finally, we’re ready to build our own home!
We have already found a very nice plot of land, but it is planned to be divided into two lots. There are already two interested buyers, namely us and our future building partner (who will also be building with the same construction company).
Now, the question is about access. Attached you can see the first site plan from the architect. Our plot would be the plot on the right. The land will be subdivided into three parcels, with both buyers jointly purchasing and sharing the small “access strip” 50/50 as a driveway.
Alternatively, we could purchase the entire right plot, and our neighbors would then have to create their access from the other road to the south. According to the building authority, both options are possible.
If we choose the option shown in the attachment, we would have to buy less land. The architect said that the right plot (with a small border adjustment) could be reduced to a maximum of 500sqm (5,382 sq ft). This is already somewhat expensive for us, but manageable. With the shared driveway, our plot would be “only” about 420sqm (4,521 sq ft), but we would presumably have to pay for half of the driveway. We were also told that we might save some costs on utility connections with a shared driveway.
Here are the questions we have:
- How does the agreement with the neighbor work regarding the construction of the driveway? Could it become expensive for us if, for example, expensive materials are required?
- Is there really a cost saving on utility connections?
- How much does subdividing the land cost? Both in general and specifically for dividing it into three parcels?
Has anyone had experience with this kind of subdivision and could offer us advice? Of course, such an arrangement requires more communication with the neighbor. Also, we couldn’t use the driveway area ourselves for parking or anything like that. The neighbors would always be driving directly in front of our house. But financially, there might be advantages.
I would greatly appreciate any help and your thoughts! And if you have any general suggestions about the site plan, feel free to share those as well! (:
Best regards,
Fyddles
Maria16 schrieb:
If you say the plot is "already level"—what exactly do you mean by that? Has some fill been added? You don’t want to find out later that it’s not load-bearing and you’ll have to spend a lot on soil replacement or foundation work, right?!
Regardless of the fact that you always need to check and calculate carefully—if the €20,000 (about $22,000) for the plot already makes you seriously doubt whether this is feasible, I would really consider if you can or want to afford the entire project. Do you already have a sense of the costs for your finished house? Or are you planning to buy the plot first and build the house some time later?
(By the way, another reason against a shared driveway: what if the neighbor still has construction traffic three years after you move in or is less willing to spend money than you and doesn’t want to pave the driveway at all?)Maybe I wasn’t clear—I live in a very hilly area, but the town we want to move to is “up on the hill,” and the plots there are already flat, if that makes sense. Certainly not “no work needed” flat, but visually you can’t see any unevenness. As far as we know, no fill was added there, but that’s definitely something we should ask about, thanks!
Also, thank you for your advice regarding the money—that’s absolutely valid! As for the €20,000 (about $22,000), it might be more a question of “wanting” than “being able.” The plot price feels quite high to us, well above the official land value. We already have an offer for our finished house, we’ve budgeted generously for additional costs, and we also have equity. But on the one hand, we expected a smaller plot, and on the other, we don’t exactly *need* that much land, so we would likely just not spend the money or invest it elsewhere. Aside from that, our budget is definitely in the middle to lower range, so I will take your words to heart!
wurmwichtel schrieb:
Don’t let yourselves be rushed!
We found our plot ourselves (a gap between buildings) and approached the owners to ask if they wanted to sell.
Various geoportals are extremely helpful during the search.
First look for building gaps and then visit in person to see if it makes sense to ask.We have found a few gaps between buildings, but we thought if someone wanted to sell, they would advertise it. However, your experience clearly says otherwise! Maybe we should just give that a try—thanks a lot!
Tassimat schrieb:
If money is an issue, you might consider giving the entire strip of land to the neighbor and orienting your garage and front door directly toward the street.
Maybe with easements or similar measures, you could also adjust the setback requirements so you’re allowed to build close to the strip.Thanks for the idea, we will discuss this with the architect if the other interested parties want to buy the land in principle!
Maria16 schrieb:
The other interested parties would have to be somewhat foolish, don’t you think? Apart from an expensive driveway, there’s not much you can do with the strip of land; for me, it wouldn’t really be worthwhile to own it alone.You’re absolutely right; aside from the fact that we wouldn’t be allowed to use it, there are very few benefits for them. I also think it’s currently more likely that we will just buy the entire right-hand property.
W
wurmwichtel20 Mar 2019 14:45Fyddles schrieb:
...We found a few building gaps, but we thought if someone wanted to sell, they would advertise it... Not necessarily. You have to make it attractive to them, and you can often negotiate a good deal that way.
Fyddles schrieb:
We found a few building lots, but we thought if someone wants to sell, they would advertise it. However, your experience obviously proves otherwise! Maybe we should just try that, thanks a lot!In our area, no one is currently selling voluntarily unless they urgently need the money. After all, there are no interest rates!