ᐅ Purchased house does not comply with zoning plan / development plan

Hello everyone,

I bought a 1.5-story house from Town & Country, the contract is already signed, and the financing through the bank is also finalized. The planning with the developer was completed as well. I originally wanted to submit the building permit / planning permission application this week, but the developer just informed me that my plot actually requires a mandatory 2-story building. However, what we planned is a 1.5-story house. What is this about? The planning and financing are basically finished. What should I do? This is definitely a mistake by the seller. He knew the zoning plan from the beginning but sold me a house that does not meet the development plan requirements. What should I do? What consequences will I face? Does anyone have experience or advice? Many thanks.

meiruliu schrieb:

Hello everyone,
I have purchased a one-and-a-half-story house from Town & Country. The contract is already signed and the financing through the bank is also finalized. The planning with the builder was completed as well. I actually wanted to submit the building permit / planning permission application this week, but the builder informed me that my lot strictly requires a two-story building. Our plan, however, is for a one-and-a-half-story house. What is going on? The planning and financing are basically finished, so what should I do? This is definitely a mistake by the seller. He was aware of the zoning plan from the beginning but sold me a house that does not comply with it. What should I do? What consequences should I expect? Does anyone have experience or advice? Thank you very much

Ouch! Well, I know of similar situations with smaller issues among my neighbors, like a development area without a gas connection (as specified in the zoning plan), but the general contractor sold them a house with gas heating. The homeowner had to cover the costs for a gas tank.

The explanation was: It’s the homeowner’s responsibility. Since it’s their lot and their zoning plan, they have to understand it and commission suitable solutions.

Have you already spoken with the general contractor about possible solutions?

Hello,
first of all, it’s important for you to understand the difference between a property developer and a main contractor/general contractor. If it were truly a property developer, none of this would concern you. You would have simply bought a finished house, and how the developer manages that would be their problem, not yours.
Town & Country, however, sounds like a main contractor/general contractor arrangement, meaning you are the client and therefore responsible for ensuring that the design complies with the zoning plan/planning permission.
You wrote "actually mandatory"... that suggests there might be loopholes.
If it can be proven that they had the zoning plan/planning permission, then the costs for redesign and so on should naturally be borne by Town & Country. However, they likely won’t cover any additional costs for the house itself.

What does your contract with Town & Country say about redesigns?

Best regards,

Andreas

How could this happen? Didn’t you read the development plan yourself, and haven’t you ever discussed it together? And why do you want to submit the building permit / planning permission application yourself? In our case, it was handled by the Town & Country civil engineer, who went through everything with us in detail beforehand (of course, we had to sign the application as well).

With S&B, uh Town & Country, you probably won’t get very far. Raise the knee wall and first check what they want for it. You’ve surely already included an extra €40,000–50,000 (about $44,000–55,000) for stuff that will definitely come with Town & Country.

HilfeHilfe schrieb:

Lawyer

I agree! I find it hard to believe that Town & Country didn’t protect themselves with a clause against this in the contract! If necessary, they will just wait it out, because there simply won’t be a building permit / planning permission issued.

I can also turn your question around,...

How is it possible that you don’t know your zoning plan? That kind of information is on the first few pages of the local development plan!!!