Duplex house as a condominium or 2 "semi-detached houses" - What should be considered?

Hello,

As part of the rough planning for the development of a plot of land with (possibly) a semi-detached house as an investment. Both halves are to be rented out initially, one half possibly later (15-20 years) for personal use.

For me, the question arises whether it should be built as two independent halves or as separate ownership units [WEH]. Especially since I have meanwhile seen combined solutions from prefabricated house manufacturers. I would like to hear opinions on my considerations...

Separate semi-detached house:
- Can be sold individually better after possible plot division
- Better sound insulation between the houses
- Technology for each house separately -> redundancy and clear cost allocation
- Easier sale of "one half" in an emergency (really?)

[WEH]:
- Building services only once (probably cheaper)
- (Slightly) less space required for the partition wall
- More possibilities for "asymmetry"

What do you think about the points? Are there additional aspects to consider?

Thank you very much

First of all, that's WEG and not WEH, but whatever.

If it is legally permissible under building regulations, I would opt for real division. Especially with a semi-detached house, WEG division is rather critical and deters potential buyers.

I don't understand what influence this is supposed to have on the party wall. (Sound insulation, space requirements)

With a single building services system, you still need billing/distribution, so more meters, meter replacement, and annual reading with billing. What an effort, time is money too. And if one heating system fails, the whole house is cold... also rather suboptimal for rental.

Asymmetry tends to make building more expensive. Building expensively for rental? And I wouldn't overestimate owner occupancy in 20 years either.

How is a newly built semi-detached house supposed to be profitable through rental income given the current construction prices?

I mean, if someone is willing to pay around €1500 cold rent to live in a house, they go to the bank, get an appropriate loan, and build according to their own ideas. That means: the people moving into your house will be
A) those who cannot get a loan, but how can you be sure that these people will permanently be able to afford such rent? ...there is a reason the bank said NO to them
B) those who want to remain flexible - from a landlord’s perspective, it’s also annoying if people keep moving out, especially in a newly built house where constant tenant turnover quickly wears down the higher standard and follow-up investments become necessary.

Later owner occupation is also an issue. Just let a retired couple with sudden mild disabilities or a young family with a sick child live there... you will never get such hardship cases out.

What does the state building code or [BePlan] say? Some plots of land are not allowed to be genuinely divided because of their size.

Both halves are to be rented out first, one half possibly later (15-20 years) owner-occupied.

Building a house 15 to 20 years before you want to live in it yourself – so also correspondingly long before you save rent elsewhere – seems to me economically highly questionable. Even with careful use, you no longer have a new house afterwards.

In my opinion, building wealth as a landlord can only succeed with this model if the same thing is built three / four / five times.

With a two-family house, I don’t see what would make the vertical arrangement significantly more attractive than the classic stacked concept with "one residential unit per floor."

The apartment must at least be properly repaired again according to some tenants ;)