Boundary construction: Neighbor is painting MY house wall

Hello,

as I explained in this thread, I bought a plot of land on which beautiful old brick buildings stand:

https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/dach-des-nachbarn-ragt-auf-mein-bauland.6290/

I want to partially integrate these buildings into a new construction. My buildings stand on the property boundary with the neighbor, whose house is also located a few meters offset on the property boundary.

Now, it seemed that the neighbor did not like the brick wall of my building (which after the renovation will belong to my house) and simply painted it white. This apparently happened before I bought the land including the buildings, but I still find it outrageous. Although he sees this wall daily, as it borders his garden, it belongs to me, and when I approach my property from the garden side, I find it extremely ugly that this beautiful, probably 100-year-old brick building is now whitewashed on the back. I consider this property damage. By the way, I know from the previous owner of my property that no permission was requested or granted for the painting.

I do not want to immediately rush to a lawyer, but also not go into a conversation with the neighbor without knowledge/arguments. Can you tell me what the legal situation is here?

You will not get legal advice in the forum. If, however, you want to get along with your neighbor over the next years, just accept it and that's that. If he did that before the purchase, you won't have any chance to demand anything. The old owner would have to take care of that.

You will not get legal advice in the forum.

Of course, I will not get "legal advice," but a response like the one kindly and helpfully given here thousands of times by nice users is probably possible. Nevertheless, thank you for your valuable contribution.

Hello,

That probably happened before I bought the property including the buildings, but I still find it outrageous ... By the way, I know from the previous owner of my property that no permission was requested or granted for the painting.

I don’t want to rush to a lawyer, but I also don’t want to enter a conversation with the neighbor without knowledge/arguments. Can you tell me what the legal situation is here?

When did you discover the painted wall? Before, during, or after the purchase of the property including the structures?

Kind regards

Hello, When did you discover the painted wall? Before, during, or after the purchase of the property including structures? Best regards

When I bought the property with the buildings, the neighbor’s garden or the rear wall of my building was not so easily visible, as tall fir trees blocked the view there. These fir trees are now gone. It is also not the entire side of the building that is painted, but only a part that runs along the length of his terrace. Somehow I cannot imagine that this is proper. He can’t just paint what doesn’t belong to him... Above all, this crude overpainting destroys the character of my brick building. The previous owner also did not know until now that the wall was painted.

The question is, what do you want to achieve? Do you want to have the wall sandblasted and restored to its original condition? Or do you want "pain and suffering compensation"?

Just tell your new neighbor that you don't think it's okay. If you come at him with a lawyer, depending on the neighborhood, you won’t have any joy there for the next few years. Then there will always be the new person who immediately comes with a lawyer.

If it’s done clumsily, let him do it properly, or better yet, do it yourself.
In any case, he should have asked whether it’s you or the previous owner—either way, it doesn’t matter. He didn’t, and now it’s up to you to decide what you want. A dispute or just to let the stupid wall be. As long as he doesn’t later repaint your house because he doesn’t like the color.