Hobby shed at the edge of the property

Usually, only garden sheds without living spaces are exempt from approval. A hobby basement is definitely a living space. I would therefore apply for a building permit in any case; you can certainly try whether it is allowed to build directly on the boundary. That way, you have the assurance that everything is permitted as planned. By the way, I recently had two employees from the building authority over regarding a retaining wall on a slope and took the opportunity to ask about the use of the garage roof as a terrace. Basically, you have to maintain a 3-meter distance, but since the garage is embedded in the slope and the terrace would therefore be "underground," the 3 meters would no longer apply. One employee said he would reject it, the other said he wouldn't be so strict. So it definitely also depends on who you get.

oh sorry, missed that... what’s stopping you from putting up a large garden shed and insulating it inside :p

what speaks against putting up a large garden house and insulating it inside :p

Both the use and the size of the object argue against it - a workshop is not a garage, not a garden house etc. etc., and if you are already planning this use, you don’t lose any prestige by naming and building things in a legally sound way from the start. The advantage is that there won’t be any drama afterwards.

Completely independent of the garden house situation, the total allowable boundary length of 15m will probably also be exceeded here, and the building will exceed the 30m³ permitted in NRW, ergo it is subject to a proper building permit.

So why bluff when there is a simple solution!?:

1. Determine path width (cadastre). If there really is a 3m wide path, plan the workshop at a distance of 1.5m from the western boundary.

2. Position the workshop with a 3m boundary distance to the northern boundary

If 1+2 are fulfilled, the workshop can be any length, width, and almost any height (height x 0.4 must not exceed 3m, so rough maximum height 7.5m!), as long as the permissible floor area ratio/floor space index is not exceeded. This can then become a real wrecking ball that replaces the other 4 workshops and warehouses, the rest can then be repurposed or simply demolished.

2. a. Alternative: boundary-adjacent development to the north with a building encumbrance registration with the northern neighbor (simultaneously solves the use and exceeded boundary development). Disadvantage: costs about €1000 extra, it will hardly be less.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

However, the term "workshop" is regularly associated with noisy commercial activities and is therefore usually rejected outright in residential areas.

I asked my local authority about the possibility of setting up a hobby workshop; for the above reasons, I was advised to use a garage. I am allowed to do whatever I want there, as long as I do not disturb anyone. Even directly on the boundary (adjacent to two public paths).

By the way, this was also confirmed to be completely legally secure (thanks to a nice neighbor who, already during the shell construction of the garage—meaning no electricity, nothing inside—accused me of commercial activity and mass production):rolleyes:. Because by now, the local building authority, the lower building authority, the trade supervisory office, and finally even the head of the lower building authority were on site to verify the legality. The complainant went one authority level higher after each fruitless inspection until I put a stop to this procedure by threatening legal action.

The information from the authorities was always the same: as long as I do not exceed emission and immission limit values AND can provide sufficient other parking spaces on my property, I can do and store whatever I want in the garage. In Baden-Württemberg.

As a small anecdote, let me also mention that the neighbor has meanwhile been there personally several times, grumpily confirmed that he actually has never noticed anything about my hobby, and that in the meantime I have already made him something he needed more than once. That’s how it can go...

However, the garage is solid concrete, with 25 cm thick walls, insulated door, etc., and you cannot hear anything at all directly in front of the door. Compressor, milling machine, angle grinder—none of it gets outside. And I ALWAYS close the door, even if I "just need to" cut something quickly or something like that. Consideration always starts with oneself.