Access to the planned single-family house on a rear plot

Hello dear house-building forum community,

I am facing a question regarding my planned construction project, which I want to implement at the beginning of next year.

Here is my concern:

My partner (33), our three-year-old son and I (37) are planning to build a single-family house on an undeveloped rear property (so-called hammer property) in Saxony-Anhalt. For development, we have realized the access via the front property, which is adjacent to the public road, sideways as its own plot of land. (Ownership rights are shared equally, 50/50). There is currently a garage on this plot which will be demolished as soon as the positive building approval notice is available.

As part of our construction preparations (application for land subdivision), a surveyor determined the boundaries for the new access plot. This plot is 3 m x approx. 32 m in size. While the access was undisputedly wide enough before the boundary survey, the new survey showed a change of about 30 cm to our disadvantage on the access side. Now I am wondering whether the clearance width for vehicles such as the fire department is sufficient.

The applicable regulation is as follows:

Guideline on areas for the fire department LSA
The clear width of access or drive-throughs must be at least 3 m, the clear height at least 3.50 m. The clear height of access or drive-throughs is to be measured vertically to the roadway. If an access or drive-through is bounded on both sides by structural elements such as walls or pillars over a length of more than 12 m, the clear width must be at least 3.50 m. Walls and ceilings of drive-throughs must be fire-resistant.

The requirements for clear width and height from the first two sentences are easily met. However, it is the third sentence that worries me. Since the remaining garage of the front property stands 3.70 m from wall to wall but overlaps vertically by 0.15 m, I am of the opinion that the access, as described above, is bounded on both sides by structural elements such as walls or pillars and therefore requires a clear width of 3.50 m. Although there is a distance of 3.70 m from wall to wall, the roof truss of the house on the front property projects out by about 0.32 m at a height of 3.30 m (similar to a roof termination). The surveyor saw no problem with this but did not deal with it extensively. Am I correct in my interpretation of the legal basis?

I hope the attached sketch illustrates my concern. I would be very grateful for any suggestions and advice.

There are many residential buildings that cannot be reached by the fire department, and the remaining distance must be covered on foot. This applies both in rural areas and in cities. In the case of a typical single-family house, the second escape route is ensured by portable ladders, which is usually not a problem in terms of height. If it is not ensured that there is enough space at the end of the driveway, no one will drive a fire truck directly up to the house. Of course, this makes everything take a little longer.

Personally, I would see such a narrow driveway as a disadvantage, because if you are unlucky, even a shipping company will not drive in there and will leave your delivery at the front of the street. For example, we have also had a container for garden waste placed in front of the house several times, and something like that is also no longer possible then.

Oh, hot topic :) Unfortunately, it is not as simple as FloHB123 suggests. Whether or not a driveway as a rear access may be designed to meet fire department requirements is not decided here in the forum, but by the responsible building authority. In addition to the guideline "Areas for Fire Departments," DIN 14090 also has a lot to offer. It would be too simple to say that the second escape route can be secured by portable ladders of the fire department. There are also (state-specific) regulations here. The fire department will not carry a three-part extension ladder more than 50 meters (regulation in SH), and the fire department also needs a setup area for the ladder, at least 3x3 meters for extension ladders; if a window is higher than 7 meters, then an extension ladder with a setup area of at least 3.70x3 meters is required. Once you have decided to create a fire department access, 3 meters width with a clear height of 3.50 meters is required. If there is also development on both sides of this access, a clear width of 3.50 meters must be ensured. And now here’s the catch --> If you have to or want to build a fire department-compliant access, you of course also have to create a setup area with corresponding load capacity. (Setup area 7x12 meters, load capacity 10 tons/axle - 16 tons total weight) In short... go to your building authority and get informed.

Take a look at paragraph 5 of the building regulations of the state of Sachsen Anhalt. There you can see if you need a fire department access road.

Of course, this needs to be clarified with the building authority, I do not want to deny that. However, for a normal single-family house, a fire department access road is usually not required, so I cannot imagine that you can play that card here. No one would voluntarily drive a truck through a 2.7m wide driveway either. Theoretically, there would be about 10cm space on both sides, but in practice, a bush or a hedge will eventually grow there, which will make the driveway even narrower. It will then already become a challenge to bring the materials to the construction site.

Whether a rear property owner is allowed to design the access road in a way that does not comply with fire department regulations is unfortunately not decided here in the forum, but at the responsible building authority

There are access routes here in Berlin as footpaths or as driveways. Not everyone can drive their car right up to their front door. Shipping companies know this and generally free curbs apply. If someone destroys an access road with a 15t truck, they have only themselves to blame, which is why they do not drive up there.