Building inquiry - What is relevant?

Right! The one who holds the longer lever is right, in this case the building authority.

Is the architect a freelance self-employed person or employed by a home construction company?

Regards, Yvonne

The architect is self-employed! There is also a large construction company here in town; the boss of this construction company and two of his employees sit on the building committee and the municipal council. It is rumored that such construction matters are best handled through this company because applications from precisely this construction company are approved directly.

The architect is self-employed! There is still a large construction company here in town, the boss of this construction company and two of his employees sit on the building committee and the municipal council. Rumor has it that such construction matters are best handled through this company because applications from exactly this construction company are approved directly.

The laws of the village...

You are already on the right path, to involve the next higher authority (hopefully professionals) as well.

Judging by the site plan, the scope of the preliminary building inquiry was rather modest, and I share Iktinos's doubts about good advice from the architect. The site plan does not even include boundary distances, let alone height information. The distance to the existing building is also not specified and is estimated at 2.0 m, which is not approvable with existing wall openings. I suspect there is no development plan, so the construction project must fit into the immediate surroundings according to §34 of the Building Code. The site plan lacks the necessary information about the construction project and the neighboring buildings, such as the number of floors and building heights. What the site plan shows speaks rather against the new building, since there is no second residential building in the hinterland on any neighboring plot. I haven’t checked the BayBO, but the ball catch fence probably triggers setback areas that must not overlap with those of the new building, so a larger boundary distance is required. Of course, the legal recourse is open to you, but under the given circumstances, I see no prospects for success. My advice: wait to see what the building authority writes, study the notarial contract, and look for solutions in talks with the building authority’s caseworker. Or buy yourself a plot in the new development area.

It is of course difficult when you have to rely on the work and statements of an architect. We had, of course, a preliminary meeting in the municipality and explained our project. We were met very kindly and the impression was given that everything was no problem. In the municipality, they had also quickly coordinated on site by phone with the district office – the employee at the district office had no concerns either and only suggested securing it with a building inquiry.

The lady even stated that there was the possibility of the municipality taking over the setback areas.

Unfortunately, the land prices here are extremely high, and in addition, a builder has secured a large part of the building plots in the new development area, who now naturally wants to sell the plots along with houses. Thus, we are looking for an affordable solution, which especially fits into our budget so that we can finally say goodbye to this rental apartment.

No minimum distances are recorded in the notarized contract; only a right of access was secured in order to carry out repair work on the ball barrier fence. If setback areas apply to the ball barrier fence, how was it then allowed to be built directly on our property boundary?

Regardless of the approval feasibility, I would think that over carefully. It will be very tight on the property. You basically won’t have a garden, right, at most you can have a narrow terrace facing south with a direct view of the primary school.
In my opinion, the plot is simply too small to build a single-family house on it. The approval will also fail if there are any building windows or site occupancy index / floor area ratio for the area / property.

Edit: I just looked at the property prices in [Schöllnach]. According to the few available listings, they are around ~60€/m². Is that 'extremely high' for you?
That is a bargain in most parts of Germany and would never make me want to build a house in the parents’ backyard...

If setback areas apply to the ball catch fence, how was it then permitted to erect it directly on our property boundary?

I found a ruling on a ball catch fence: Bavarian VGH, decision of April 16, 2009, file no. 2 ZB 08.3026 ... that the chain-link fence in question does not have the effect equivalent to a building within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 9 BayBO 1998 (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 2 BayBO 2008) with the consequence that it can be erected without compliance with setback areas... so no setback areas.

Upon inquiry, we were given the following facts as reason for refusal.

Who do these information come from? Since an on-site appointment is upcoming, it is best for you to have everything explained directly by the decision-makers on site. Here in the forum it is hardly possible to disclose all facts.