Convert old garage into house entrance?

  • Erstellt am 2014-01-12 04:11:21

ano

2014-01-12 04:11:21
  • #1

    [*]hello,
    I might not be in the right place here, but I urgently need advice from experts

    we recently bought a two-family house and are currently renovating.... and as usual, problems are now arising.
    for one, the garage was added later and is apparently somewhat too wide. so that it crosses the neighbor's property boundary.
    years ago, the garage was converted into "living space" (2 office rooms) without the permission of the neighbor or the building authority. behind it there was an extension built (2 rooms, bathroom, hallway), which was approved, but here too the property boundary was apparently exceeded by a few centimeters.
    in the old house, there is living space upstairs and downstairs as well. we would use the lower part together with the extension. the upper apartment would be rented out. now to the actual problem.... there is only one main entrance from the street.
    if both parties were to use this entrance, we would have to go through the kitchen to get to the living room. and access to the upstairs apartment would be open, which tenant would want that. that's why this entrance should only be for the upstairs apartment...
    our entrance should be created in the former garage, we don't need these rooms as they are anyway, it would just be a long hallway. well, only the neighbor resists, for understandable reasons, after all, he has only had disadvantages so far.
    he insists that the garage door remains (from outside it still looks like a garage)
    I have already googled and also called the city's building authority... they want me to call on Monday, they want to look at the plans... but I would already like to know if there are possibilities?
    our garage adjoins the neighbor's garage, between them is one of those white doors as is usually the case with garages.
    I thought it would help to build a wall (drywall) inside with a 1m distance, not placing the door in the middle to maintain the distance. only I read everywhere about a 3m distance?? The house is located in NRW, a rather rural area.

    or what do you think of the idea? [INDENT]completely remove the garage door and use the garage as an open passage? at the back we could then build it so that we would have a house entrance.
    surely easier to get approved by the authorities than converting the registered garage into a long hallway and having a front door in front.
    is something like this allowed??? please respond, it's really giving me headaches right now.
    [/INDENT]

    [*]10

 

Wastl

2014-01-12 06:30:40
  • #2
Difficult. It is a special case. It could go either way. Do you have enough parking spaces designated on your property for 2 residential units? That would be the first veto point. If you leave it open, it would be okay. The 3M refer to the building and not to subordinate components.
 

ano

2014-01-12 09:21:09
  • #3
that would of course be very good.
we have enough parking spaces, there is a double garage behind the house and at least 3-4 parking spaces in front of the house. the property is about 712 sqm.
are there any other points that could speak against it?? the neighbor has his garage door right next to it? there is still a garage door in between. he wants nothing to change visually, so that our garage door stays. he knows about the rooms behind it, tolerates it, but does not want us to install an entrance door there. I fear he would also not agree to a passage.
 

Wastl

2014-01-12 10:58:17
  • #4
The neighbor has no say in the appearance of your garage. You can officially declare the open part as a carport / parking space, and unofficially use it as an entrance - who is going to prove otherwise to you? It is not the neighbor who has to tolerate the illegal construction (which is of course helpful), but the [Bauaufsichtsamt].
 

ano

2014-01-12 14:08:05
  • #5
yes, normally it's probably my decision whether or not to install a garage door there.... but this is not a normal case. the garage is probably a few cm over the property line and the extension as well! both were apparently approved, but not the boundary encroachment. the neighbor has apparently tolerated it all these years for the sake of good neighborly relations, but seems to be annoyed now. if I now remove the garage door against his will, I'm worried he will take it to court and even though I am not responsible for the construction, I might be held liable. I only found out about the boundary encroachment a few days ago. what about claims for damages against the previous owner, or did someone else buy the house and sell it to us a few months later. there is also an old oil tank partly on the neighbor's property, which the neighbor apparently cleaned and filled with sand and wants it removed. that would cost me at least 2000 euros. here too there was no information from the seller. of course, I could use the old entrance, but as already mentioned, the layout would be somewhat awkward or I could walk around from the other side and build an entrance behind the house. but that would be much more expensive and in my opinion would be an unfavorable background situation. strangers would stand in front of the house and certainly not look for us behind the house. everything is very complicated :-/ I realize that sooner or later there will certainly be financial compensation regarding the boundary encroachment. we will also have to do the tank cleaning sooner or later. but right now financially it wouldn't be good... precisely because other unexpected problems have arisen that we did not expect. well, it's all a bit upsetting right now because I suspect the seller's intent, who made a good profit from the sale...
 

DG

2014-01-13 10:36:02
  • #6
Hello ano,

The problem is not the entrance, but the conversion or the use of living spaces directly on the boundary. Living spaces must have a 3m distance from the boundary or a building encumbrance on the neighboring property of the same depth. If there are openings (windows, doors, glass blocks) in the boundary wall, a free space building encumbrance of 5m is required or the openings must be closed. The reason for this is fire protection - compared to this, a few centimeters of boundary encroachment is a minor issue.

If you want reliable (and free) information about this, send me a private message and send me some data about the property or plans/floor plans. Don’t worry, Bocholt is too far for me, meaning I will take a quick look and then introduce you to 1-2 contacts of professional colleagues on site if you want.

What is interesting in your case is how the sale was conducted (with a broker? Private sale? Did you have witnesses or an expert present?), because I suspect you were withheld crucial information. What you urgently need is a specialist lawyer for building law, but I can also put you in touch with a good contact.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe
 

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