Strangely divided semi-detached house

Hello dear building experts,

I have a question about the possible purchase of a semi-detached house and hope that someone can help me :-)
The object of desire is an old red brick semi-detached house from the 1930s, which is for sale. However, the whole house is divided somewhat strangely.
I’ll try to describe it: It is a 1.5-story house, that is, ground floor, first floor, and an attic converted for residential use with a pitched roof. From the outside, it looks more like a classic single-family house.
If you stand in front of the gable side, the division of the house runs vertically from the tip of the gable through the front of the house, so that basically the left half of the house and the left half of the roof belong to one residential unit, and the right half of the house and the right sloping side of the roof to the other half.
An extension was once built onto the right side of the house, and a separate entrance was installed in the extension. Both halves of the house have separate heating systems, etc.
Now we are wondering if purchasing it could have disadvantages due to the strange division. For example, the roof half of the semi-detached house for sale was newly roofed and insulated about 10 years ago, the other not, and the half not for sale generally looks like it is in serious need of renovation. What would happen, for example, if the other half eventually has to be demolished? Could our half still stand on its own? Would that be possible from a structural perspective? Maybe someone knows about strangely divided houses :cool:

Hello,

The object of desire is an old red brick semi-detached house from the 1930s, which is up for sale. ... When you stand in front of the gable side, the division of the house runs vertically from the peak of the gable along the front of the house ... On the right side, an extension was once built onto the house and a separate entrance was installed in the extension. ... What would happen, for example, if the other half had to be demolished at some point? Could our half still stand on its own? Would that be possible from a structural point of view?

It’s not as strange as you think; in the pre-war years and afterwards, it was common to build extensions onto existing houses.

If the right half is demolished, you don’t have to worry, because the respective owner must ensure that "your" half, if you are seriously considering a purchase, remains standing unharmed.

What you should be aware of when buying is that probably only an extension was built. This means both halves share one common party wall; anything else would surprise me, and you should be able to ask the owner about it. Nowadays, each semi-detached house has its own party wall—usually made of calcium silicate bricks (KS), with an air gap between the walls. With the existing construction—if my assumption is correct—you can expect a different noise situation accordingly. You literally hear a lot from each other, even without open windows.

Rhenish regards

[war Unsinn]

Thank you for your answer! You are of course right, I hadn’t thought about the soundproofing at all_O I also assume that both halves share a common partition wall. Now we are naturally wondering whether a possible demolition would seriously damage our half of the house or if it is technically even possible to leave one side standing:confused: That the other owner has to pay for and be liable for everything already reassures us a bit, but what if it turns out that our half cannot stand alone? Would the other owner then have to pay for a new house? What would happen?

Aha, I don’t know anything about how the house is divided! I will definitely find out about that, thanks for the tip! What disadvantages or advantages does a real division have?

You do not necessarily have to coordinate with your neighbor and agree on things in case of a partition, but can act as you wish (within the framework of [Nachbarschaftsrechts, Bebauungsplan, Gesetze ...]).