Are the connections of a demolition property usable?

Good morning everyone,

after the house was already sold, the real estate agent offered us today the neighboring property for purchase. The property was not advertised on the internet.

The property amounts to 1263 sqm on which there is a house that must be demolished.

The following is still in the exposé:

Description - 500 m2 buildable area (floor area ratio: 0.4) - single-family housing - open construction style - 1 full floor - 2 residential units - currently still built with a single-family house ready for demolition.

Can the connections of the house then actually still be used if you build new on it? So do I save any costs or work through that?

Thanks in advance for your input!

We like the location, but what else do we have to or should pay attention to?

In principle, this is possible. For the demolition, the whole thing must of course be dismantled and secured as far as necessary. Normally, the respective connection operator checks whether the lines are sufficient for the construction project. In the context of pipelines and wastewater, this will usually be the municipal utilities, for electricity and gas the respective network operator. For all lines, the condition as well as the capacity must be checked. The former is usually done for wastewater pipes by video inspection and tightness testing. Depending on the circumstances, newer regulations must also be observed: For example, in our municipality, a manhole for the sewer must be located on the property. Ultimately, this does not matter because the sewer itself is no longer usable and therefore must be completely redone – if it had been, however, we would still have had to retrofit the manhole.

If it is actually going to be completely demolished, I don't think there is too much to consider. Of course, you should check beforehand to what extent the property is suitable for your project. What comes to mind spontaneously: Asbestos use in the old building to be demolished?

With the utility connections, the connection to the house is meant. Since there will eventually be a new house, it must be connected. Since these are flat rates for the utilities, including 15 meters of lines or so, you should hardly save anything significant. The property is developed.

we would have to have all house connections redone

earthworks were more extensive than we liked

do not underestimate demolition costs
building fabric is important
post-war buildings from the 40s/50s are often more expensive. asbestos, night storage heaters cost a lot

Ytong is also a lot of fun to tear down... disposing of it is quite expensive.