The municipality wants my property - How to negotiate properly?

Hello,

at the moment it’s not about a construction project for me yet, but who knows what the future brings and I hope to get some helpful tips here.

My meadow property has probably been in the municipality’s land use plan for a while. Unfortunately, not in the area where building plots will be, but for new public buildings, school, community center, etc.

In any case, the municipality wants my property and has now offered me €30/m². (This is apparently also the standard land value for land expected to be developed) Building plots are traded for at least 5 times that amount.

My bad luck is that I am not located in the building plot planning area.

For me, all of this is completely “new territory”; of course, I would logically like to get more money for my property, although it has already significantly increased in value because the municipality wants it.

As far as I have been informed so far, the municipality definitely wants to build on the area, which also affects several other properties, and will not change its plans.

Unfortunately, I have no experience with property negotiations; after extensive googling I have not found more information. Can I just suggest double or triple the amount now and then probably meet somewhere in the middle? Does the municipality actually have to compensate all owners equally if it even comes to expropriation!? Am I the fool if I accept the offer too early? The mayor doesn’t decide this alone, right, it surely still has to go through the municipal council? Should I get a lawyer and if yes, is that even worth anything and do I have to pay for it? (no legal expenses insurance, which is probably excluded in this case anyway)

I basically would actually prefer to keep my property for personal reasons and don’t want to “give it away” at a minimum price. Especially since the municipality is probably in a much better position than other municipalities due to the income from a large company.

It is also a poor time at the moment to sell a property; a replacement property would also be an option, but who knows what might be pushed on me…

I hope some users here might already have experience with this topic and can give me some information.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

...In any case, the municipality wants my property and has now offered me €30/m². (This is probably also the standard land value for land expected to be developed) Building plots are traded for at least five times that amount.

Life is not a wish concert

As far as I am informed so far, the municipality definitely wants to build on the area which also affects several other properties and will not change its plans ... Can I simply suggest double or triple the price now and then we will certainly meet somewhere in the middle? Isn't the municipality actually obliged to compensate all owners equally, in case there might even be expropriation!?

You can suggest whatever you want - whether it will be successful, I dare to doubt. The municipality has nice leverage and holds the stronger position, don't forget that.

Should I get a lawyer ... and do I have to pay for them?

If I order a glass of wine, I have to pay for it too, right?

At the moment is also a modest time to sell a property, a replacement property would also be an option, but who knows what might be slipped to me…

You can believe in church – just go there and ask which property would be offered to you as a replacement ... it will certainly not be building land ...

Kind regards

We are currently going through the process of land readjustment.

It first depends on the status of the land. Simple agricultural land / meadow or land designated for future building or building land / fully developed.

- The municipality tried to buy as much land as possible and made offers to the owners. Relatively cheap per sqm. (our meadow of about 1000 sqm was not sold at that time) Value up to this point almost zero. - Then there was a legally binding zoning plan, presumably like yours now, for about 200 newly created plots. Our plot is included in it, it became land designated for future building. Value now 100€ per sqm.

Readjustment phase: These now wildly mixed plots of all affected private owners but also a large part of the municipality (plots the municipality had bought before) fall into this. Now the municipality needs space for things like streets, playground, and in your case probably also a new school etc.

An overall area from all "land givers" first resulted. Then it was calculated how much space the public buildings, parks and streets need. This resulted in 45%.

It could not be avoided that the municipality took 45% of our plot for this purpose.

So we now stand with only 550 sqm of land instead of 1000 sqm. However, with the same value as with the 1000 sqm. So 100,000€, the value of the land measured per sqm has increased. If it is now developed, it increases in value again by the costs of development (just to say how this "value increase" comes about).

Then came an invitation from the city informing us: You now have a plot of 550 sqm with a value of 100,000€. Since the parts of the land needed by the municipality have been deducted, we were able to decide a few things at the mentioned appointment. Sell all or part of the 550 sqm. Or buy additional land. And choose where we want to "relocate" the plot in the building area. Even if the old plot was located on the site of a planned school, we could relocate it elsewhere. The same happened with all other owners.

We were lucky to have submitted so much land that after readjustment (deduction) enough remained without having to buy anything.

Now the new plot is being developed. Unlike buying a developed plot, the bills for development come to us in bits and pieces. Here a sewer, there electricity, gas, road, streetlight etc...

This is how the plot gains further value.

....

What you can now inquire from your municipality is whether (if you want to build there yourself) you can keep the plot and have it readjusted or if you actually MUST sell it.

It is a misconception that if the municipality offers you 40€ per sqm, they make a profit because they sell the land at three times the price in the end.

In your case, the land value is already estimated (40€ per sqm), the rest up to the sales value of the developed sqm is calculated with these 40€. So whether you sell 100 sqm for 4000€, or after readjustment 75 sqm for 4000€ is irrelevant. And if in the end 75 sqm costs 5000€, then it is because YOU or whoever owns these 75 sqm paid 1000€ for the development.

....

For us it is like this: 1. sqm value 100€ at 1000 sqm total 2. sqm value approx. 180€ at still 550 sqm total 3. sqm value approx. 250€ at 550 sqm ( + 70€ per sqm for development, which is not given to us)

Value increase = 2.5 times, however without having actually "earned" anything in the end.

I hope it has not become too confusing

(the figures and values here do not correspond 1:1 to our case, but I think it makes a lot clear) This was only our situation. Whether your municipality simply wants to acquire building land cheaply here, I cannot judge.

One more thing. You cannot escape the whole process. Either you go along with it or sooner or later you will be forcibly expropriated. How many square meters is it about?

Thanks already to both of you for the feedback!

The municipality has nice leverage and therefore holds the stronger position, don’t forget that.

Do you basically mean expropriation for the common good with leverage, or are there other things I need to be prepared for!?

If I order a glass of wine, I also have to pay for it, right?

Touché. The question arises because such cases are sometimes excluded from the legal protection of membership in the Homeowners Association.

However, I found an article on the internet in which several plots of land were to be purchased for a county road and almost three-quarters of the owners were represented by lawyers. The mayor was annoyed that they would also have to pay the lawyers who work against them, and that the people showed a negotiation mentality like in a Turkish bazaar. As far as I know, such matters always end in a settlement and each side pays for their own lawyer...

One more thing.
You cannot avoid the whole process. Either you go along with it or sooner or later you will be expropriated by force.
How many square meters is it about?

Thank you very much emer, your detailed contribution was very enlightening for me and I am now much wiser than before, since this whole procedure was completely unknown to me until now.

My meadow is about 800m². (There are also a few fruit trees on it)

I don’t know the exact plan yet; I believe it was only recently approved in the municipal council. I have only seen a "concept" of how it should/could look there later on.

I understood your case, but what if only public buildings are to be created in the development plan, for example a kindergarten in another case.
Then there are no building plots that one could reassign!? And if, say, 20 landowners contribute their land, but there are only 15 new building plots, that wouldn’t work either; I hope I haven’t completely misunderstood this.

The price offered to me is, according to the land value, the current price for land with development potential.

Best regards and thanks!

Sorry for the typos. Can you not edit posts here, or am I blind? I guess I'll have to get used to it and proofread before sending next time.