Duplex framework. Divide the plot?

Good morning everyone! So many helpful people, that is fantastic! Thank you already for your feedback! It is planned that my father will live in the house on the west side (left) and I (prospectively) with a family of four on the east side. The house consists of a basement, ground floor, and an attic (it is mandatory that the roof slope starts after 5 meters in height). Since my father lives there with one other person, the space would be sufficient, even though there is a garage in the house. Four people would be possible, but probably unnecessarily cramped. He would have no objection to a larger garden And you can definitely notice this one meter in width. That’s why I came up with the idea to offset the division slightly. And if one were to rent or sell this half someday, the value would of course be higher with a larger garden. We have not yet decided where the entrance should be, but it would be possible to make an entrance in the middle on the west side. You are of course right that a parking space in the north becomes very tight if the entrance is also supposed to be there. By the way, the garage in the house is supposed to be a normal garage, duplex only comes into question on the east side next to the house.

Hello Hans,

[*]Now there are setback areas to be observed, three meters on each side. We have agreed with our neighbor on the west side (who is also building) that he will relinquish 2 meters of setback area to us. This means that he keeps 5 meters distance to the property boundary, which allows us to build 2 meters closer to the boundary on this side and only have to keep 1.30 meters (instead of 3.30 meters) distance.

I am not familiar with the Bavarian bureaucratic procedures, but before you consider the reduction of the required setback area as a fact, I would ask at the responsible building planning office. In NRW, 5.00 m is rather rare, but it does happen and then it is often difficult to fall below this requirement; even with the neighbor’s consent.

[*]On the west side, a garage is to be integrated into the house,

Are you aware of the additional costs that will be incurred by the owner through this project – besides the loss of living space?

Question: Is it possible to divide the property so that it is not split in a straight line? Meaning the house is divided exactly in the middle, but then the dividing line shifts one meter to the east, thus splitting the gardens into two equally sized halves?

It is possible – but what is the use of that? You have to work with encumbrances and end up, among other things, with a dark corner on the ground floor that you can only use to a limited extent. In the attic or also upper floor – depending on how many stories you want to build – you will have to accept restrictions regarding dormers or gable projections; not to mention fire protection... that will hardly be different in Bavaria.

As long as two families live next to each other who know each other well, are related/friends, maybe that is not a problem. But what if the perfect world cracks – for whatever reason? Would you want to have a constant fence guest about 1.50 meters away from your living room window?

Furthermore: prefabricated garages with a width of 3.30 m are – relative to the standard (2.96 m wide, providers need 0.04 m “play” for setting down the garage) – considerably more expensive; I would rather recommend using a standard garage, perhaps 3.00 x 9.00 m, and allocate the saved 0.30 m to the neighbor’s property and then make a “normal” central property division. Either way, you won’t be entirely fair to the future neighbor – if it should come to that – because he will have to accept loss of living space and additional costs due to the integrated garage.

Whether a duplex garage can be placed directly on the property boundary without further ado, you should also clarify in discussions with the building planning office before planning. Either way, I find the access angle (according to your attached drawing) to your garage quite tricky. But maybe that is deceptive since you have not added the surrounding buildings to the drawing.

Rhenish regards

Hello Hans,

And if you should ever rent out or sell this half, the value is of course also higher with a larger garden.

I strongly doubt that, as the restrictions in the detached single-family house are not insignificant; basement or not

Rhenish greetings

Hello construction expert,
we have already looked into the topic of setback areas, the 2 additional meters for our neighbor must be registered in the land register, then it is possible.

Does an integrated garage actually entail such high additional costs compared to a freestanding one? I thought at the end of the day it is like a room in the house, where instead of a wall in front I have a gate. Therefore, I did not expect significant additional costs at this point.

As long as I live on one side and my father on the other side and everything is fine, the garden does not have to be physically separated. If a tenant moves in or if for other reasons a garden separation by means of a fence is necessary, we thought that this fence could simply be moved one meter further to the east to create two equally sized garden halves. That is why we came up with the idea of a non-straight separation...

Hello Hans,

Does an integrated garage actually involve such high additional costs compared to a detached one? I thought it is essentially like a room in the house, where instead of a wall at the front I have a gate. Therefore, I did not expect significant additional costs at this point.

Take a look at the Bavarian law once or several times, and in particular at the Verordnung über den Bau und Betrieb von Garagen sowie über die Zahl der notwendigen Stellplätze (GaStellV) Rhineland greetings

Since the property is located in the city, I can well imagine the issue with car parking spaces. Since I once lived in a terraced house measuring about 6 x 12 meters myself, I really can’t imagine “giving up a bit of living space” for my car. With all due respect...

What should one imagine by "city"? Do you have public transport? Or do you just want to imply that everything is a bit tighter?

I don’t think a potential tenant or buyer of this western half of the house will insist on having the same as in the front: they won’t measure, nor will 10 sqm (or however much) be decisive in whether one could feel comfortable in this property or not. Rather, the house or the granny flat has to score with other positive features: numerous building obligations and yet tightness will deter a buyer; when renting, the tenant will probably be a bit more tolerant if they can rent a little gem with a garden. That’s why I think you’re thinking too complicated. The advantages (appearance, spaciousness, individuality) suffer from what is not absolutely necessary.

You simply can’t have everything on a city plot that you have in the countryside. One has to accept that. Why don’t you build a house with a smaller granny flat? There are ideas and designs that are similar to a semi-detached house, just not the same size. Another and better idea for a (hidden) west entrance with an access path of less than a meter (1.30 minus house edging minus fence area) should be feasible. And Dad will probably realize that too, especially since you haven’t planned a property boundary.