5 things to check before buying land for a house

The most expensive mistake you can make with a plot of land isn't overpaying — it's buying land on which you can't build what you had in mind. In most cases, this can be discovered before you sign at the notary, provided you check a few essential things. Below are the five checks that make the difference between a sound investment and a costly trap.

1. The certificat de urbanism (urban planning certificate)

Before buying, anyone can request a certificat de urbanism de informare (informational urban planning certificate) for a plot from the city hall — you don't have to be its owner. It is the safest way to find out, officially, "what can I build here?"

The certificate describes the land from three perspectives:

• the legal regime — the ownership situation, any easements or prohibitions;
• the economic regime — the land's designated use and its functional classification;
• the technical regime — what uses are permitted, which indicators apply, and which approvals would be required for a possible construction.

In effect, it turns assumptions about a plot into verifiable information. I covered what it contains and how to request it in the article on the certificat de urbanism. For a plot you intend to buy, it is the cheapest insurance available.

2. The height regime, POT and CUT

These are the indicators that decide, in concrete terms, whether the land allows the house or building you have in mind. They come from the urban planning documentation in force (the PUG general plan, possibly a PUZ zonal plan) and appear in the certificat de urbanism:

• the height regime — how many storeys you are allowed to build (for example P+1, P+2, etc. — ground floor plus one, plus two);
• POT (the land occupancy ratio) — how much of the plot's surface may actually be covered by the building;
• CUT (the land use coefficient) — how much you may build in total, relative to the plot's surface.

A plot that is generous in surface area but has a low POT and CUT, or a low height regime, may be unsuitable for what you want. Conversely, a smaller plot may be sufficient if the indicators are favourable. It is these figures, not the raw size of the parcel, that set the real envelope within which the project can be conceived. If you want to understand where these rules come from and how they can be changed, I explained the differences in PUZ vs. PUD.

3. Intravilan or extravilan

This is probably the distinction that surprises the most buyers. A plot that is extravilan (outside the buildable area) is not directly buildable — however good its location may be.

Bringing an extravilan plot into the intravilan (the buildable area within town limits) is done, as a rule, through a PUZ (Plan Urbanistic Zonal, a zonal urban plan): a lengthy, costly process with no guarantee of approval. This means that a "cheap" extravilan plot can remain unbuildable for years, and the real cost (time, documentation, approvals, uncertainty) may ultimately make it more expensive than a parcel that is already buildable.

The classification can be checked in the extras de carte funciară (land registry extract) and in the urban planning documentation, at the city hall or the cadastre office. It is a five-minute check well worth doing before anything else — because if the land is extravilan, the rest of the discussion changes completely.

4. Utilities and access

A plot that is buildable on paper can still be difficult and expensive to use if it lacks utilities or access. As a rule, check:

• water supply — public network, or the need for a well/borehole;
• sewerage — a connection to the network or an individual solution (septic tank, micro treatment plant);
• electricity — whether it is present and how far the network is;
• natural gas — where applicable, if it exists in the area;
• the access road — and, very importantly, legal access to a public road.

A lack of utilities is not necessarily an absolute obstacle, but it means connection costs, time and sometimes additional approvals — sums that must be included in the plot's real budget, not ignored.

Pay particular attention to access: a "landlocked" plot, with no exit of its own onto a public road, is a classic trap. Access across a neighbour's land must exist as a right (for example a right of way recorded in the land registry), not merely as a verbal understanding. Check this point with the notary and in the extras de carte funciară (land registry extract) before buying.

5. The legal situation and the physical land

The final check has two sides — the paper and the ground — and both matter.

The legal situation. Request a recent extras de carte funciară (land registry extract) and read it carefully (or with a specialist's help). As a rule, you should look at:

• the actual owner — they should match the person selling;
• easements — rights of way, utility easements, etc.;
• mortgages or other charges;
• disputes or notes of ongoing legal proceedings;
• subdivisions and the parcel's history.

The notary checks some of these aspects at the time of authentication, but it is wise to know them in advance, so that no surprises appear at the last moment.

The physical land. Beyond the paperwork, the parcel itself matters:

• shape — a regular plot is easier to use efficiently than a narrow one or one with awkward corners;
• orientation — sun exposure determines how pleasant and how energy-efficient the home will be;
• slope — a steep slope can significantly raise the cost of foundations and groundworks;
• the geotechnical survey — the soil's bearing capacity and the groundwater level.

Poor soil or a pronounced slope do not make the land unbuildable, but they can raise the cost of the foundations and the site preparation in ways that are better discovered before purchase than on the building site.

In short

All of these checks, done before purchase, protect you from the most expensive mistake possible: "I bought a plot on which I can't build what I had in mind." None of them is complicated on its own, but together they give a clear picture of what you are actually buying.

An architecture practice can carry out a feasibility assessment on a plot before purchase — that is, it can read the regulations, the indicators and the constraints and tell you, before you sign, what could genuinely be built there.