House construction / old development plan / possible difficulties with the neighbor

Hello,

I have already looked in the forum but did not find a case that applies to me (if there is one, sorry in advance). I want to build a house on a plot in NI that belongs to my father. The development plan is from 1976 and therefore not up to date and does not provide for building a house there. The preliminary building inquiry showed that the city building authority and the politics there would allow a house to be built.

There are 3 neighbors: 2 of them are opposite the plot (in between there is an approx. 3m wide road) and on the other side the garden of the third neighbor borders. The first two mentioned neighbors would probably have no objections, but the third neighbor with his garden would not agree because he does not get along with my father and would not agree out of protest.

Distances would not be a problem and the house would also not be too large (approx. 110m² living space, the plot is approx. 400m² in size).

My question is, can the neighbor prevent the house from being built simply by saying no, or does he have to have a reason (the neighbors are supposed to be contacted by the city)? If more information is missing, I would provide it.

Best regards
niffi

The signature of the neighbors is usually obtained by the authorized applicant (usually the architect) of the building application. If a neighbor does not agree, the construction can still be approved. It is not the neighbor who decides, but the elected council (municipality / city / district) about the building application. With the consent of the neighbor, it goes faster; without it, I believe he can file an objection, etc. So it leads to a longer process.

Hello,

... The preliminary building inquiry revealed that the city building authority and the politicians would allow a house to be built there.
... There are 3 neighbors: 2 of them are located opposite the property (in between is an approx. 3m wide street) and on the other side is the garden of the third neighbor.
... Distances would not be a problem and the house would not be too big either (approx. 110m² living space, the plot is approx. 400m²).
My question is, can the neighbor prevent the house from being built simply by saying no?

Spontaneously and intuitively, I would say that the neighbor has no way to prevent the new building. But "spontaneously and intuitively" is unfortunately of little help to you.

You have already asked the municipality whether - contrary to the development plan - construction is permitted and this was approved positively. Go there again in person and present your question - if the construction vehicles don’t have to cross the vacant neighbor’s property, I currently see no way for him to raise objections, especially since the distances are reportedly being observed.

I have a "mental image" of the location of your property in my mind; I answered based on that. But neither you nor I can know if it matches reality. Therefore, my advice is to inquire again with the municipality or the local building planning office.

With Rhineland regards

Thanks first of all for the answers. I will go to the office at the next opportunity and ask.

The distances are easily maintained (it would be at least 30m from house to house, probably more) and the construction vehicles would not be a problem, they would not have to go over the neighbor's property.

At the moment, I am mainly concerned with whether the neighbor can simply say no or if he has to justify his rejection.

Thank you very much for the previous assessments.

Regards niffi

Hello Niffi,

no, the neighbor cannot do anything against your project as long as it is approvable according to the regulations. With the missing signature, he only retains the possibility to file an objection against your building application or the approval for it.

If he were to do this, he would have to sue the authority that approved your project (for example, the LRA).

We had the same with our application.... it was four weeks of worrying whether something would happen - but nothing did.

We also had a positive preliminary building inquiry. When the whole thing then went to the district office, the development plan suddenly had to be changed. Only then could a plot on our property be divided into 2 building plots. Just like with you. Located in Bavaria.