Tear down the old house + then build new?

Hello everyone!

I would like to know if it is legally permitted to buy an old house, have it demolished, and then build a new house on the property! Is it allowed to simply demolish old buildings (no historic preservation)?

Then one more question:
We are considering buying an old house with a large property together with a couple of friends, having this house demolished, and then dividing the property to build two new houses on it! Would something like that be approved? It's a matter of the development plan, right?

The background of the questions is that we definitely do not want to build in a normal new development area. It should be a bit more private, and that's why, for example, farmsteads etc. are suitable!

I would be happy to receive answers from you!

Greetings from Ike

Do you also know if it is approved to build two residential buildings on a property where previously only one residential unit stood?

Thanks! Ike

Hello Ike,

whether it is allowed to build two residential buildings on one plot of land where previously only one stood depends on the respective development plan (single and/or semi-detached housing). If the plot is large enough, it may also be possible to build two individual houses on two plots, if semi-detached housing is not permitted.

If residential houses are to be demolished, a demolition permit usually has to be applied for. The respective state building codes regulate from which size of the house this has to be applied for. One of the reasons for this is, among other things, that the living spaces of apartments and houses existing in Germany are also listed in statistics. Otherwise, there would be a lot of living space that exists only on paper.

The application for the demolition permit can be submitted together with the building application for the new development. Then, for example, the documents say: "Demolition of a residential house and construction of a semi-detached house". However, if the construction project is to be carried out in an outer area (outside a defined settlement area), this is extraordinarily difficult to impossible.

Best regards from the Osnabrück region
Thomas Brandenburg