Construction application costs only 40 euros due to exemption application?

Hello, I am new here and have to say, very interesting. Thanks also for the detailed information.

And the cost differences? Depending on the federal state/building area still extremely different, right? I know friends with building permit costs of €10,000 and others with €70.

Regardless,
In our case, the permit exemption will probably also be sufficient, as far as we have already informed ourselves. Also with the municipality. But good to know that there could be a construction stop. However, our house construction plan also corresponds to the development plan, and after the first consultation with the municipality, everything seems to be okay.

How do you arrive at €10,000? Or was that meant as an exaggeration?

Surely there are differences in the calculation, e.g. percentage of construction costs or based on flat-rate construction costs per m³. However, the results are ultimately quite close together again. With €1,000 you are usually well equipped.

Hello Geisti, I think some terms are getting mixed up here...

Large parts of your response are completely correct. But:

It is important to consider here that these permits have what is called a suspensive effect...

Part of this answer could unsettle the builders (loosely based on Thomas de Maiziere). I consider the danger of an (arbitrary) construction stop being portrayed as a worst-case scenario in the case of permit exemption, and presented as a special distinguishing feature from the building permit, to be somewhat exaggerated. An authority will certainly not shut down a construction site without verification at the call of just any person. And your distant neighbor either would not have received a building permit at all or would have built differently from the permit, which would also have led to a construction stop.

I would have assumed that the municipality checks this, but it didn’t

That is precisely the point of the exemption, that it is not checked. The entire building and planning law responsibility lies with the authorized applicant and thus the risk of violations with the builder. Authorities generally check completeness and compare whether the information in the building documents matches the stipulations of the development plan, but a verification in the sense of recalculating the data does not take place. Presumably, your neighbor submitted incorrect building documents.

Our building permit cost €650 and, to my knowledge, the neighbors' permit did as well.
The submission of the application was free of charge.
A supplementary submission cost €90, meaning a subsequent change.

It is not true that one is on the safe side by simply adhering to the development plan in a layman’s way. The setback areas are calculated based on the height of the house. For smaller or narrower plots, two stories or house height, due to a high roof or roof pitch, can already lead to a non-buildable house design. This is simply not discernible for a layperson.

An official site plan is also part of the exemption, at least here in NRW. It contains or calculates heights and setback areas. If someone builds within the setback areas, regardless of whether there is an exemption or not, one must probably expect a shutdown.

How do you come up with €10,000? Or was that meant as an exaggeration?

No, I haven’t seen the invoice personally, but the building application and building notification are just over 10k.

You can also look up your house history and costs on the internet.
If interested, try googling Haus.Kubein.