Property division: Shared access via a separate plot

Yes, the neighbor does not have to create an access road into the south garden, of course he benefits from it. But if he is very active and needs 10 trips per day for work, hobbies, etc. (dropping off children, big kids ), you have the additional traffic right in front of your door.

Apart from that, I would be interested (I’m not familiar with this!) how it then looks with the setback areas of his house, which might possibly lie on the shared corridor plot? And what would actually happen if the neighbor sells and the buyer does not want to buy the access road with it – can the new owner be forced to take it over including the maintenance obligations?

I don’t know about the setback areas either. I would have to ask the architect about that, thanks for the hint! Especially the comment about selling gives me something to think about, as we are still quite young and moving later can never be ruled out.

I definitely wouldn’t want to share the access road with a neighbor to reduce the risk of tensions.

Thanks for your assessment. We also fear that such tensions are preprogrammed.

250 * 80 so 20,000€

From that, one would have to subtract half the land price of the access road and half of the much longer access road.
I could imagine that this will be an overly simplistic calculation.

250 * 80 so 20,000€

From that, one would have to deduct half the land price of the driveway and half of the much longer driveway. I could imagine that this will be an oversimplified calculation.

You are right.. that indeed seems like an oversimplified calculation with quite a few "uncertainties" (regarding agreement with neighbors about material, etc.). Thank you very much! I think we will rather try to raise the 20,000.

If you say that the plot is "already level" – how did it become like that? Did someone fill it up? Not that in the end it’s not stable at all and you have to invest a lot of money in soil replacement or foundation?!

Regardless of the fact that you always have to check and calculate – but if €20,000 on the plot already makes you seriously doubt the feasibility, I would really think carefully about whether you can or want to afford the entire project. Do you even have a feel for the prices of your finished house? Or would you first only buy the plot and build the house some time later?

(BTW another reason against a shared driveway: what if the neighbor still has to handle construction traffic three years after you move in or wants to spend even less money than you and doesn’t want to pave the driveway at all?)

...The property (...) is, as far as we know, one of the last in the area (and anyway the only one currently for sale)...

Don’t let yourself be rushed! We found our property ourselves (building gap) and approached the owners to ask if they wanted to sell. Various geoportals are extremely helpful in the search. First look for building gaps and then drive to see if it seems sensible to ask about it.

If money is a problem, then maybe you could give the strip completely to the neighbor and align your own garage as well as the front door directly to the street. Perhaps you can also shift the boundary distances with building encumbrances or something like that so that you are allowed to build close to the strip.