detached semi-detached house

Hello,

I am new here and hope I am in the right subforum.

We have purchased a semi-detached house that is located on a leasehold property.

The semi-detached house has been standing alone for 13 years. The lessee (a construction company), who leased the entire property, is insolvent. There is already a new holder.

The wall to the neighboring property is insulated but not plastered, and we would like to address this for proper insulation and aesthetics.

Now we are wondering if, after 13 years, it is still that simple to build an extension onto our house or if we would need approval for that.

How can one find out, or whom should one ask?

Thank you very much.
Katja

Hello,

We only bought in December and are still waiting for the land register pre-registration, which means no money has been transferred yet. The plot is already in the hands of the church as a leasehold anyway. We have also not plastered yet because in the case of a possible extension or not, the type of plastering would already be decisive.

How do you find that out or who would you have to ask?

Ask the municipality if there is a development plan and, if so, what it stipulates.
Ask the building permit authority if there are any encumbrances on your or the neighboring property and, if so, which ones (building obligation / setback encumbrance).
Ask the cadastral office if your house is surveyed and, if so, how it relates to the boundary (exactly on it / boundary distance / encroachment).

If everything went normally during the construction of your house, you would at least not be involved in the construction of the neighbor's house in NRW, provided the neighbor does not have anything unusual planned.

What was originally applied for/approved (half a house or a whole house)? --> Check the building permit with the city/municipality.

If not done yet, better late than never: Walk through the house with an expert. Half a semi-detached house from the insolvent developer sounds suspicious to me. (Unless the insolvency was not caused by the fact that no costs were saved on your half ).

Hello Katja,

We only bought in December and are still waiting for the land registry pre-registration, meaning no money has changed hands yet. The plot is already in the hands of the church as a leasehold anyway. We haven't plastered yet also because, in case of a possible extension or not, the type of plastering would already be decisive.

I just replied from on the go; unfortunately, tapatalk chose the wrong ID and logged me in as bbschenk. Please excuse me; to preserve the meaning of this thread, I am posting my first reply below:

---------------------------------------

if the plot is designated as a semi-detached house development according to the development plan, neither the change of the holder nor the time changes the status quo.

It certainly makes sense to plaster the party wall; why didn't you tackle that directly? It is only "easy" to do retrospectively if you stay with the plaster on your half of the property. If you exceed the boundary, you need the approval of the current holder, as owner of the still free semi-detached house plot. If this part is sold later _and_ you have plastered beyond the boundary, you will have to remove it at your own cost and expense.

--------------------------------------

I had understood your post to mean that the semi-detached house has belonged to you for 13 years and you are only now planning to plaster. What do I have to understand by "type of exterior plaster"?

Rhenish greetings