If you build a house how far back from the street must you build?

Answer 1

The distance of a house from the street is dependent on 3, maybe 4 factors:

1. Zoning ordinances: There may be a required minimum distance from the street that the applicable zoning authority has imposed (usually local ordinances unless the property is outside the boundaries of the municipality and then usually county/parish).

2. Building lines/setbacks: The property may have been subdivided into buildable lots and at the time the people who set up the subdivision may have laid out "building lines" and "setbacks" on the plat of subdivision that was recorded.

3. If this is an existing, built-up neighborhood and neither a minimum distance is mandated nor a building line/setback of record, still the local zoning ordinances may require that any new home or reconstructed home be set back the average distance of the existing homes.

4. The 4th factor is that you can't go on "visual observation" alone. Because visual observation may not, and in many cases is not, accurate in terms of figuring out where the "street" ends. The important measurement is from the edge of the street's "right of way" ("ROW"). In a downtown city area, the line formed by the edge of the sidewalk and the face of the buildings may be indicative of where the ROW ends. In a suburban area, the ROW may be the line formed by the edge of the sidewalk furthest from the center of the street. In a rural area, the location of a roadside fence may be the easiest way. But the best way is to have an accurate survey of the property in hand, because if it is the right kind of survey, it should also show any building / setback lines.