Inherited house - and now?

A building preliminary request (preliminary decision) ensures, within the scope of the question posed and the positive response by the building supervisory authority, that the building project complies with building and planning law and is fundamentally eligible for approval. A positively decided BVA is not a building permit but creates planning security, especially when other offices/authorities still need to be involved (landscape protection, nature conservation, monument protection, water protection, etc.). A merely verbal statement from the authority instead of a BVA does not provide planning security and is in most cases rejected with the reference to the BVA.

Whether the estimated sum of € 300,000 for the renovation is reasonable can only be roughly estimated once the size of the object is known (BGF/BRI) and the condition is assessed after a building condition analysis.

The neighbor’s dormer must be at least 1.25 m away from the property boundary (fire protection). According to the corresponding specifications of the building supervisory authority, a dormer that stands on the exterior masonry is no longer a "privileged component." It then triggers setback distances and must remain at least 3 m from the property boundary. This would have to be examined.

A building preliminary inquiry (preliminary decision) ensures, within the scope of the question posed and the positive response from the building authority, that the building project complies with building and planning law and is fundamentally approvable. A positively decided preliminary inquiry is not a building permit but creates planning certainty, especially if other offices/authorities still need to be involved (landscape protection, nature conservation, monument protection, water protection, etc.). A merely oral statement from the authority instead of a preliminary inquiry does not provide planning certainty and is in most cases rejected with reference to the preliminary inquiry.

However, I still cannot derive an obligation to submit a preliminary inquiry from this statement.

In this respect, the statement:

...a preliminary inquiry must be submitted.

is simply wrong.

Whether it is advisable is another matter. Depending on the responsible building authority (and the reliability of the staff), one can save the costs for a preliminary inquiry in any case.

More precisely: It does not have to be submitted a BVA in order to clarify the construction and planning law issues arising in connection with a planned BV. However, every architect in this situation is well advised to use the instrument of the BVA, since he owes the client an approvable planning. A building application that is rejected because the approvability and other fundamental questions were not previously clarified - in writing and verifiably documented - is a planning error of the architect and concerns his liability. The private builder may want to save the fees/honorarium for the BVA; the architect should not let himself be persuaded to do so.

A building application that is rejected because the eligibility for approval and other fundamental questions were not clarified in advance - in writing and verifiably documented - is a planning error of the architect and concerns his liability. The private builder may want to save the fees/honorarium for the BVA; the architect should not allow himself to be persuaded to do so.

Good argument.

One should take a look at the dormer issue in the building files. It may be that the dormer in its current form is already secured by a special encumbrance or would have to be secured, possibly also by a project-related or general association encumbrance.

For the own project, it is of course advantageous if the dormer cannot be found in the building files or was planned/approved differently. However, one should also handle this cautiously, because otherwise one suddenly has a bad-tempered neighbor.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

The neighbor's dormer is partially on your roof?! Could become interesting in case of demolition, sale, etc. ... .

He is definitely one of those who want to buy the house...

Although I think EUR 300 is still ambitiously set ... for a new build; for a renovation it might still be possible.

Ouch.

The square is a double garage.
I do not currently know the floor area.

Oh, at first we thought it would be easy to move back into this house. And you save yourself the land purchase! Everything is there! But if you have no idea, it suddenly takes on more complicated dimensions.

Have an architect experienced in old buildings and renovations explain the advantages and disadvantages of this property, including all construction and planning law specifics, on site. Otherwise, you might overlook crucial details and purchase a burdened property with hidden defects.