What To Consider Legally When You’re Building A House

Disclaimer: This article should not be treated as legal advice. It’s recommended that readers still consult legal counsel and contact a lawyer should they have any concerns regarding this topic.

Getting your own house is a great sign of financial independence. After all, this is something you can call your home and you’ve worked extremely hard to make sure all your efforts into earning for your house are pulled off. However, it’s also important to remember that before you get your dream house built, there are things to consider in a legal sense. Here’s a quick background on some of the things you have to consider legally when you’re building a house.

Before we proceed with these considerations, let’s first remember that legal considerations are best discussed with proper legal counsel. After reading through this list, try to take note of the things you’ve already done and the things you may want to get done and show them to your legal counsel before proceeding.

Building A House: Legal Consideration

When building a house, it’s not always just a matter of finding the right spot for you and making sure it’s available for purchase. This will also entail a lot of paperwork, deliberation, consultations, and documentation involved precisely because land is a sensitive issue when it comes to ensuring who owns what, and what exactly we could do with the property we buy. As such, it’s essential we get everything correctly and legally in order to avoid any problems in the future. This process might be tedious, especially so if you’ve elaborated the issue with your legal counsel, but it may be all worth it in the end if you finally get your dream home.

• Try to ensure that there are no pre-emption rights on the property you want to buy and build your house on. This is important, as it’s also vital to check if there are any plans to build anything such as shops, airports, factories, railway lines, and roads on the property that can potentially affect its use, enjoyment, and value. It’s important for you to check if you are going to pay a fair market related price, and this is achievable by getting an online property valuation that can give you sold prices of similar homes in your location.
• Try to check if there’s a special zoning policy in your area, or the town or city, that may affect the property in question. Likewise, try to check if the property is actually subjected to a compulsory purchase order, and consult your lawyer on what to do in situations like these.
• Try to determine if there are any rights of way over the land, and try to identify and confirm if these are renewable or permanent and ensure that you will be able to properly handle any land use disputes that may arise.
• Try to check if the planning permissions and building permits are in place. Secure these permits, and make sure they know that a property is built in accordance to this documentation. This means any renovations, additions, extensions, and modifications on the property must be included in these plans and must be authorized. Likewise, these plans must be checked against the so called cadastral plan located at the land registry to confirm the viability of these modifications.
• If your particular property is inherited, check and confirm if each inheritor has agreed for the sale. Those who have not been contacted actually have the right to contest this will.
• Meanwhile, if the property was previously owned by a company that went bankrupt, try to ensure that the liquidator won’t be reversing the sale and claiming it for creditors.
• In the same token, check if there are any mortgages or loans left on the property in order for you to seek legal counsel on the best move to approach this. You may also go to the municipal offices to confirm if there are unpaid taxes on the property in question.
• Try to check if relevant billing such as electricity, gas, water, and telephone have been paid for the past years. The vendors of these services should be able to provide you with the necessary receipt in order to make your documentation properly.
• If you’re getting land to extend an existing building, make sure that there’s a certificate from the local town hall that is allowing this process. It’s important also to check if the dwelling’s sizes can actually be built on your property with respect to your building.

The above are just some of the things you have to remember if you’re wondering what to consider legally when you’re building a house. Sadly, your goal to build your dream house might not be as smooth-sailing as simply “earning the money,” as there are some legal factors you may have to consider before getting your plans executed. Remember, however, that it’s always helpful to seek legal counsel and consult a lawyer when it comes to more specific considerations when building a house. After all, not all states have the same laws when it comes to various subjects.

Helen Newman is known best by her readers as a law writer who strives to make her pieces informative to those unfamiliar with the law. She writes pieces on various law topics that she hopes could help the common reader with their concerns. Helen lives with her husband and daughter, and loves spending time with them when she’s free.

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