Building permit delayed

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Hello Everyone.

I have always found valuable information in the forum and have been a silent reader. I would love your thoughts on the issue that we face now and hoping for some positivity. We bought a new construction single family house ( construction not started yet ) last September. The land has been registered under name and the construction company started the other process. They sent the building permit application end of October and we were told last week that all the pending issues with the Bauinspketor has been sorted out but there are individuals who are objecting for the construction. There are 5 single houses planned. The reason being for the objection is that it would obstruct their view, more traffic, etc. At least that's what the construction company told us. apparently they are not interested for any negotiations and this will be moved to the Baurekurskommission in the next weeks. I am bit frustrated as we put all our savings into this house and the construction is been delayed. My major worry now , how these things are handled? What if the Baurekurskommisoin favors the objections? How long does this process usually takes? Has anyone of you been through similar situations ?

I would really appreciate your guidance and inputs here.

Cheers

2
How long is a piece of string...

Friends of ours bought a house to knock down and build new 6 years ago. One neighbour with deep pockets, lots of time on hand and a bitter and twisted view of life has pushed the objections as far as the courts will go with legal costs running into 10s of thousands.

If one objection is refused the complainant finds another.

Not saying all cases are like that but don't expect a quick fix if they dig in.

3
Thanks ShirleyNot. Sounds scary. We didnt expect a new construction in swiz would be a real pain.

4
There was a news article a year or two ago about someone in a village who owned random pieces of land in the area; who made a small fortune (read 100's of thousands) by charging a fee to not object to permit applications.

Sans fee - they would object to applications, and drag things out as long as possible...

5
sorry to hear this. unfortunately it can string on quite long...

from my own experience but when we were looking at buying last year one of the builders was facing the same issue and they were delayed already by 6months because the lady objecting took it to the next instance and was going to take it as far as she could. This was the main reason we did not pursue that apartment as we didnt know how long it would last, what the additional costs would be (the builder couldnt sign on contractors like this as he didnt know when he would need all the individual companies) and the main thought was: even if the lady does not get through with all her points in court, just imagine living next to somebody who already hates your guts without even knowing you.

hope it gets sorted out for you though!

6

Sort of surprised the company is allowed to sell the houses before all the relevant building permits/permissions have been obtained. If it falls through do you get your money back?

7
Would be curious about this too - also what guarantees you have that the house will be built at all....

In Italy (ok, VERY different landscape), it's fairly common for construction companies to go bankrupt during a build

8
That’s what I am scared of . It looks like it’s gonna be a painful year for us .

9
Sounds like you‘re going into this with slight naiveity.

Two things which could potentially save you lots of money:

1. Get a Rechtschutzversicherung that covers cases like this

2. Get a personal/independent Architect or Bauleiter to check the build periodically during construction.

How this is handled will also highly depend on what‘s written in the contracts you signed.

10
Well you are right. I had to say we were quiet happy when we got this house , due to its location and the house will be a timber construction one. So we got two excited. We tried applying for so many houses begin this one and it was always difficult to buy a house as a foreigner. We did check with our swiss colleagues who built their house recently . They all said it’s a great deal. Well we completely overlooked the fact about getting the building permission. I have always hoped it’s a duty of the builder and as long as the land is a Bauland , it shouldn’t be an issue . Guess we are wrong ��

Well we own the land already now . We paid the money for the land and the first installment that we need to pay before the construction begins.

Honestly I am more anxious than before . The construction company is an architect based construction company who has done quiet few impressive projects . I always believed getting the house deal was the most difficult one as we had so many rejections when we applied to buy houses before . So when we got the deal, we were super excited. We did check the contract with our local swiss friend and clarified al the points . But I had to agree that we were naive about the building permit. I did t expect that we would have any issues at all. They already made us chose everything: electrical, kitchen, bathroom etc .

True indeed . We have this insurance . I will also find an architect or someone to check the whole process during the construction time. I really hope that they would find a way to get the permit

11
Getting the permit mostly depends on the local council and the amount of objections that are incurred. That‘s before the permit is granted.

After the permit is granted there can still be objections and it can be dragged out again up to the federal court.

If you have a mortgage you might already be paying interest without the house being finished depending on how it‘s structured.

12
It can drag out or it can be over quite quickly. It goes both ways.

Does something in your contract address the issue of delayed construction?

13
The bits in bold are confusing/concerning.

At this stage, you should have only paid a deposit of about CHF20,000 - which is returnable, if fought for.

Normally the land would be bought by the house owner, not the construction company...

14
Well this is what says in the contract regarding delay..

Der Totalunternehmer hat Anspruch auf angemessene Erstreckung der vereinbarten Fristen,

wenn höhere Gewalt oder andere vom Totalunternehmer nicht zu beeinflussende Umstände

die termingerechte Ausführung verzögern, wie z.B. behördliche Massnahmen, verspätete Entscheide

des Auftraggebers, Unruhen, Streiks, Pandemie-/Epidemie-Massnahmen, ausserordentliche

Kälte- und Regenperioden, nicht voraussehbare Schwierigkeiten im Baugrund und

ähnliche Umstände.

The general contractor is entitled to a reasonable extension of the agreed deadlines,

if force majeure or other circumstances beyond the sole contractor's control

delay the timely execution, e.g. official measures, late decisions

of the client, unrest, strikes, pandemic/epidemic measures, extraordinary

Cold and rainy periods, unforeseeable difficulties in the subsoil and

similar circumstances.

15
I guess I was not so clear about my post. The land is been registered already under our name. We have a total unternehmervertrag with the construction company to carry out he whole construction process. our payment schedule is as follows.

Zahlungsplan

Grundstück (Kauf direkt mit Verkäufer) CHF 850'000.00

Werkpreis

Bei Unterzeichnung des TU-Vertrages* CHF 240'000.00

Bei Baueingabe CHF 60'000.00

Bei Baubeginn CHF 120'000.00

Bei Rohbauende (baudicht) CHF 120'000.00

Nach Baufortschritt CHF 133'393.80

Bei Übergabe CHF 13'700.00

Total exkl. MwSt CHF 687'093.80

MWST 7.7 % CHF 52’906.20

Total inkl. MwSt CHF 740’000.00

So we paid for the land plus the first two installments as per the contract.

16
...and you signed a contract like that ?

Good luck !

17
I'm not a legal aid but the contract sounds reasonable to me. Delays happen more often than not.

18

Sure they do, but with the phrase used the guy can do whatever he wants basically.

There should be limits and possibly penalties involved,