Exemption procedure or building permit

We had a sloping plot and thought we had considered everything; the municipality approved it in the clearance and issued the building permit before Christmas.

Now, after Christmas, the district office wrote: Not approvable like this (average heights in terrain profile, max. height of retaining walls, etc.).

End of the story: Building application with deviations submitted to the district office and in about 8 weeks everything, including all involved authorities, was properly arranged and approved.

At first, I was annoyed about the time loss; in hindsight, I am really glad to have the building permit. In the new development area or around it, there is always someone who on the one hand seems to have a lot of time and on the other hand is very curious to somewhat annoying.

Costs are manageable. The decisive factor is not your actual construction costs but a percentage of a fictitious construction sum per enclosed space set by the district, which fortunately has little to do with the real construction sums. In the end, including deviations, just under 1000€.

Back then there was a construction stop with neighbors. So it’s not just an empty threat – insofar per building permit.

Suppose we overlook something. What would be the worst case? Someone from the building authority drives by on Sunday afternoon, notices an obvious deviation from the development plan, and shuts down the construction site on Monday? Or someone else, which is even more likely, realizes afterward that something doesn't fit. Demolition? Fine? It's a serious question, what could realistically go wrong?

Demolition is the worst case. For us, the heat pump would have been a problem; the construction company based the noise calculation on existing buildings, but the authority referred to construction plots and potential buildings. We had one parking space too few. We did not apply for the outdoor seating area of the granny flat; the authority read from the building plan that a permit-required terrain modeling was taking place here. So it would have caused problems that would have been significantly more expensive to solve than the building application cost.

we had one parking space too few. we did not apply for the outdoor seating area of the granny flat, the office read from the building plan that there is a permit-required terrain modification here.

But these are fundamental things that every architect MUST recognize. That’s what they are paid for. I also can’t say, "OOPS, one more floor than allowed – we didn’t see that." If there are exemption procedures, I would always use them. Exception: You really have to cheat and try to squeeze your house into the development plan at all costs. For us, it was never checked either – what should be checked anyway. The office does not inspect, does not measure, and therefore does not come out (at least for us in NRW).

The problem is the retiree with a dog who is too bored and walks through the construction areas. Or the dissatisfied neighbor who tries to transfer his bad mood to others.

So apparently everyone here has [Nachbarn /Spazierengehende Rentner]...

The problem is the [...] dissatisfied neighbor who tries to transfer his bad mood to others.

Or a neighbor with a denied exemption for his special request (dormer wider or the like) then wants "equal injustice for all" and discovers the new hobby "millimeter man combined with block warden." Formulated as a farmer's rule: "In case of doubt, keep distance from the freestanding structure if there were complications with approval at a neighbor."