Plot
A plot (tomt) is a delimited piece of land that can be built on or has already been built on. In everyday speech, the plot is the area a home, cabin or commercial building stands on, or an undeveloped area that is ready for development. In legal terms, a plot is usually registered as a separate matrikkelenhet, that is, a grunneiendom (freehold land unit) with its own gnr and bnr.
It helps to distinguish between a building plot and an existing land parcel. A building plot is an area that is zoned and physically suitable for putting up buildings, while a plot in the wider sense simply means the land itself, whether or not it is built on. Whether a plot can actually be built on, and with what, is not decided by the owner alone. It follows from the reguleringsplan (zoning plan) and the land-use purpose (arealformål) in the kommuneplan (municipal master plan). An area set aside for agriculture or as a recreation area is still a plot, but not a building plot.
How much can be built on a plot is governed by the degree of utilisation (utnyttelsesgrad), which is set in the zoning provisions and expressed as BYA or %-BYA (built-up area in relation to the plot area). Together with building lines, eaves height and ridge height, this gives the outer limits for the building volume a plot can take. The size, shape, slope, ground conditions and access of the plot also affect what is practically feasible. A large plot with poor ground conditions or without lawful access can in practice be worth less than a smaller plot that is ready to build on.
Plot boundaries are registered in the matrikkelen and shown in Kartverket's property map, but the surveyed boundaries vary in accuracy, especially for older properties. If there is doubt about where a boundary runs, a cadastral survey (oppmålingsforretning) can be requested, and disputes about boundaries are settled by the land consolidation court (jordskifteretten). A plot can also be a festetomt (ground lease plot), where the land is owned by a bortfester (lessor) and the fester (lessee) leases the right to have buildings on it. Ownership of the land is then separated from the right of use of the plot.
The value of a plot is closely tied to the development it can carry. For an undeveloped plot, the plot price often makes up a large part of the total cost in a housing project, and the relationship between plot cost and expected sales value is usually measured as tomtebelastning (plot cost share). A raw plot without road, water and sewerage is worth less than a serviced plot that is ready to build on, because the buyer has to carry the cost of preparing it. If the plot is to be divided into several independent units, a subdivision (fradeling) is needed to create new matrikkelenheter, each with its own bnr.
In Placepoint you can examine a plot from several angles at the same time: the area and boundaries from the matrikkelen, the applicable reguleringsplan and arealformål, and the degree of utilisation that governs how much can be built. A combined review of the development capacity of a plot is available in the plot analysis.
How the dataset appears in the map
The dataset is part of the map layer Property as Matrikkelen - eiendomskart:
From Placepoint's glossary: Plot
More information: Store norske leksikon: tomt, Plan- og bygningsloven (the Planning and Building Act), Kartverket: about matrikkelen
English: Plot / building site (tomt; a delimited parcel of land, usually a registered cadastral unit).
Frequently asked questions
What is a plot?
A plot is a delimited piece of land, usually registered as a separate matrikkelenhet with its own gnr and bnr. It can be built on or undeveloped.
What is the difference between a plot and a building plot?
A plot is the land itself, whether or not it can be built on. A building plot is a plot that is zoned and suitable for development. Whether a plot is a building plot is decided by the reguleringsplan and the arealformål.
How much can I build on my plot?
That is governed by the degree of utilisation in the zoning provisions, expressed as BYA, together with building lines and height limits such as eaves height and ridge height.
Where do I find the plot boundaries?
Plot boundaries are registered in the matrikkelen and shown in Kartverket's property map. The accuracy varies for older properties. If there is doubt, a cadastral survey (oppmålingsforretning) can be requested.
What is a festetomt?
A festetomt is a plot where the land is owned by a bortfester (lessor), while the fester (lessee) leases the right to have buildings on it. Ownership of the land and the right of use of the plot are then split between two parties.