Fixing of a neighborhood agreement

Hello dear community,

after a long time, I have a question again.

Our plot is structured as follows:
From the street, the plot goes about 14 - 15 m flat into the depth.
Then there is a slope of 2.50 - 2.80 m - followed by a slight increase to a height of 3.50 m at the end of the plot (30 m total depth).

We will keep our slope and build the house with the back into the slope (laterally the slope will be supported by L-shaped stones).
Regulations according to the development plan: Walls/L-shaped stones up to 1.50 m - with the neighbor's consent up to 2.00 m height.

Our neighbors have (unfortunately) excavated the slope at the back. Therefore they are obliged (since they have altered the plot) to secure our remaining slope against slipping.
One of the neighbors wants to achieve this by means of a self-built retaining wall of about 1.80 m. Unfortunately, he placed this wall directly on the plot boundary (material costs approx. 11,000 euros). To recall - the height of the slope at this point was 2.80 m - thus the neighbor has easily carried out the grading from 2.80 to 1.80 m on our plot side.
Attached is a picture of the wall - before it was backfilled and our plot was "deleted."

Today the neighbor called me and said that the building authority sent them a letter. They are asking whether we would give our consent to the higher wall.
My wife and I have decided to give our consent and accept the "loss of plot" (due to the grading on our side). It makes no sense, according to neighborhood law, to insist on demolition of the wall (possibly even in court), only to live in a hostile neighborhood afterward.
I think I will make it a condition that the neighbor raises his wall to 2.00 m and that I am also allowed to increase my L-shaped stones to 2.00 m.

OK - long background story - and now the question:
What must be considered with this consent?
Do you have any suggestions on how such an agreement could be supplemented?
Does it have to be drawn up notarized / by a lawyer or is a self-written "contract" sufficient?
Does an entry in the land register have to be made (similar to a building encumbrance)?

Of course it is clear that this is not legal advice, but what is your opinion?

Many thanks f-pNo

Hello,

Attached is a picture of the wall - before it was filled in and our property was deregistered.

Without the picture, I wouldn’t have been able to understand exactly what you described. Those are probably the pitfalls of the internet.

What must be observed with this approval?
Do you have any suggestions on how such an agreement could be supplemented?

The neighbor is obliged to provide information to the building authority on whether you agree to the higher wall. If I were you, I would connect one thing with the other. Draft a letter stating under which conditions you agree; there is nothing special to be considered regarding the form. Your neighbors must submit this letter to the building authority for acknowledgment, and from this authority comes the request to register a building encumbrance, if required. If this neighborhood agreement suffices, that is it. Proof – in case of a later sale – can always be provided via the approving authority.

What, do you think, needs to be added to "must"?

Rhenish greetings

What do you think should be added to "must"?

To be honest, I am not entirely sure to what extent, for example, the following points could be included or do not belong at all. The idea is simply that the incorrectly placed wall causes us additional costs that were not planned for. Since the neighbors placed the wall directly on the property boundary, we have to cut back on our side or possibly even level the upper area of the property to 2 m and probably "support" our terrace. For leveling, the following wording might be useful: "Since the property is no longer usable at its original height due to the wall placed directly on the property boundary, it must be leveled to a height of 2 m. The family ... shall bear the costs for the removal/disposal of the additional excavated material incurred as a result." For cutting back on our property: "Since the hillside cutting (contrary to applicable neighborhood law) must be carried out on the property of the family f-pNo due to the wall placed directly on the property boundary, y m² of land will become unusable. Family ... will reimburse an amount of y m² * 100 euros (purchase price) as compensation." Most likely, leveling plus supporting will be necessary (at least that is the plausible suggestion from our general contractor). Furthermore, the following wording would probably also be advisable: "Should a construction encumbrance be registered due to the retaining wall measuring 2.00 m, the associated land register costs shall be borne by family ... ." I will take a new picture again this evening showing the wall including backfilling and cutting back.

Here is another current picture of the wall including the backfill and (unfortunately) the slope on our property.

Hello,

from my layperson's legal perspective, this is not so easy to answer. However, I think that you cannot simply pass on the additional costs incurred to the neighbor. Nowhere does it say – and you certainly have not written anything to that effect – that there is an obligation to carry out "x" in the garden. This means, conversely, that every owner can design their garden – and thus remove or not remove soil as they wish. The only influence you can assert is the dismantling of the incorrectly built wall, as it violates your property boundary. If I see that correctly, it would not change anything for you regarding the follow-up work.

Furthermore, the following wording would probably also be sensible: "Should there be a construction encumbrance entry due to the retaining wall measuring 2.00 m, the family ... shall bear the associated land registry costs."

I consider that justified.

Regardless of my first response on this topic, you should sit down with the neighbor and see where this leads. You know that I am not a lawyer, so I might be mistaken and, if in doubt, you will have to engage one. But again: I do not think that your neighbor has to cover your consequential costs – except those arising from the encroachment (possibly construction encumbrance) – because everyone can design their garden as they wish. Of course, it "would have" been desirable if the neighbor had "included" you in their plans ...

Rhenish greetings

I think this can hardly be assessed here in the forum. repeatedly explains that the neighbor is acting contrary to neighbor law and has also built over the boundary. However, in my opinion, the main problem is not that the wall, for example, stands in the middle of the boundary, which is common and can be pragmatically resolved. It seems here that the neighbor has excavated his property up to 2.8m deep but is only allowed to build a retaining wall with a maximum height of 2.0m. This means that 80cm is not supported and therefore has to be compensated on f-pNo’s property, costing about 80cm in property width (45° slope).

This can be remedied by an actually up to 2.80m high wall, which then (in NRW ...) must be secured by a construction encumbrance, affecting f-pNo’s property.

I would not sign anything here for now but rather make it a condition that my property be restored by the neighbor to the original ground level. The building authority will then say under which conditions or whether this is even still possible.

If it is not possible, I would actually bring up the additional costs of the unplanned underpinning, because: obviously, the neighbor has excavated about 2.80m of ground here, although he should have known that without additional conditions he can only support 1.50m. Even with the neighbor's consent only up to 2.0m.

The neighbor should have informed himself beforehand how to regulate his excavation, which he – if I understand correctly so far – has neglected.

Alternative: he rebuilds his own ground by 80-130cm and simultaneously raises the retaining wall...

Regards
Dirk Grafe