legal insurance

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hello

Problem: House X will be extended and this is going to impact the view House A and House B due to the height of the construction.

The discussions led to no change to the project so the affected House A wants to employ a lawyer and to split the costs together with House B.

What kind of legal insurance would you recommend to House B to buy? For how long should be the insurance made? I assume such dispute could last months or years?

Thank you

2

No legal insurance will cover a pre-existing conflict...

3
Just a note from my side, if you buy legal insurance today, you will not be covered for anything that has already started or will start in the next 2-3 months.

For obvious reasons, aka moral hazard.

4
There is not much you can do about losing your view if the project is within commune/cantonal regulations.

You may own your house but you do not own the view.....

5
There is no legal right to a view. Or privacy, as we've found out. Although for the latter, you might get them to replace the bathroom window with a opaque glass.

6
I think just about everything has been covered.

No legel insurance will cover an existing issue.

If the new building falls within existing construction rules, there's nothing that can prevent it happening.

That said, you can go and discuss with the owners reasonable changes you would like to see. They have no obligation to take these on, so the more reasonable they are, the more chance you have of getting something.

7
Insurance does not work like that. You can't get coverage for a preexisting situation. And since the discussions have already started it is more than likely that fact will be revealed during the proceedings.

On top of this Switzerland is a small country and there is no fundamental right to a view. So it could be very expensive, especially if you don't have insurance already.

Probably spending an hour with a local architect who knows the local planning laws might be money well spent.

8
Agree with all the above. At some point the changes would have been published at the Commune, and maybe sticks put up - necessary in Ticino). That was when you could object and follow the appeal process. If planning is granted you're too late.

9
It's a bit more of a problem than that, at least in Bern. After the approval has been granted, the developer can file for an amendment and you don't needed to be informed! So you need to monitor the filing regularly for amendments!

On one occasion we thought that approval on our street had been granted for a two story house and had forgot about it. Luckily a local architect warned us that the approval had been amended to include an additional story, a shop and six parking spaces!!!