Illegal division of land into two plots

Hello everyone,
I have the following problem. A large property of approximately 1000 m² has been divided into two equally sized plots due to an inheritance. The front plot, built on with a single-family house and a garage with a gable roof, has already been sold. We would now like to purchase the rear plot. However, the garage stands, due to the old construction, on both properties, with one third on the front and two thirds on the rear plot.
In order for me to build my house, I want to demolish the garage. The owner of the front plot would now like to keep one third of the garage. After several discussions, we have now agreed that I will demolish the garage and the neighbor will build a wall.
This demolition must be reported to the building authority.
However, the building authority informed me that there could be problems if his part of the garage remains, as the garage, with a height of approximately 5 meters, would be too close to the boundary. There is the possibility of registering a building encumbrance, but that is not an option for us.
When the building application is submitted, this condition could be noticed and the owner of the garage could be asked to remedy this defect. Since he is not responsible for the defect, it could lead to a demolition of the garage or the separation of the two plots being reversed. Is the statement from the building authority correct? The employees of the building authority also found that the separation of two plots by a building is not permitted under building regulations.

Hello Enno,

that doesn’t sound good. According to your description, the division should not have been carried out like that. In the case of a new building application, the defect will actually only be corrected before the next building application is approved.

Have the responsible land registry office send you the survey map and the boundary record for the division; there should be a division application at the building authority (which also belongs to the file at the land registry office).

According to your description, a building encumbrance should already have been entered at the time of the division. If your description and the current assessment of the building authority are correct, the rear plot is only usable to a limited extent and is therefore simply worth less or you should not buy the problem as a layperson without scrutiny and must urgently check before purchase to what extent your own planned development is affected.

The land registry office can also provide you with information on this; the files (boundary record, survey map, division approval) also show who carried out the division (the land registry office itself or a publicly appointed surveyor from Lower Saxony).

Best regards Dirk Grafe