Justified as a 3-storey building according to § 34 of the Building Code?

Hello everyone,

while searching for a plot with the municipal housing company, we came across a plot (see attachment) for which there is no development plan, and accordingly, construction is supposed to be done according to §34 of the Building Code in accordance with the surroundings. The housing company has already warned that the city wants a "tower house" as a boundary building on the plot, adjacent to a 3-story multi-family house. However, they also believed that, due to the presence of a maximum 2-story detached single-family house in the immediate vicinity, this would be legally very doubtful, and I should submit a building enquiry for a normal detached single-family house to the city to challenge any rejection. Therefore, I was at the urban development office today to clarify whether this expectation is factual, where it was confirmed to me exactly as such. The goal is to have a similar eaves height.

Now the questions to the group. Are such challenges promising in terms of success and how much do they delay the normal process? We are still at the beginning of our planning but originally wanted a single-family house of around 140 sqm. We are generally not even bothered by the 3-story design, but think that it drives the price up (rightly so?) and costs us planning flexibility.

Legend for the attachment:
Red: desired plot
Green: 3-story multi-family house to be attached to
Blue: single-family house 1 1/2-2 stories
Yellow: terraced houses 2 1/2 stories

Whether you will succeed with the challenge? From an urban planning perspective, it really looks as if a block were planned along [Grabenstraße]. If this is now built with a classic single-family house, it will look odd. A challenge can be quick or take a long time – it always depends on how fast the supervisory authorities respond.

From an urban planning perspective, only the south side of Gabelstraße is relevant; what you circled to the north is irrelevant. Even the opposite side of the street has a completely different structure and is therefore excluded, unless the building authority requires you to orient yourself to that development.

I wouldn’t dream of putting a single-family house on the property. Next door there is this three-story block built in a closed construction method... it looks slapped together, sorry.

I would definitely match the height of the western building and build exactly what the building authority suggests – a tower/end house with plenty of light from above and from the east/south. But first, I would ask the building authority what is intended for the rest of the eastern site; that should interest you as well.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

Hello everyone,

thank you very much for the responses. In the meantime, we have also come to terms with putting up a 3-story building there, as long as it remains affordable. A few months ago, we already looked at a 2 1/2-story terraced house (probably exactly like those circled in yellow above), but we did not like the plot of land (and it turned out to be a bit too small). Maybe something can be developed from that. Of course, I have already researched floor plans, but if anyone knows good sources specifically for terraced houses, feel free to send me links. For the eastern plot, we were already told that a single-family house settlement is planned there, but it will still take a few years, so we do not want to wait for that.

Best regards, Rick

For you, it is only important that the eastern area is not also built up with 3 floors and closed construction, or that there is sufficient distance remaining. If you build 2.5/3 floors and a single-family house is developed to the east, your light will not be blocked by it.

To the northeast, I also saw space, where single-family houses can be seen as far as one can tell from the aerial image - do you have the possibility to acquire a plot there? A single-family house would fit there.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

For the plots east of here, I only received information from the city that the housing association plans to develop a single-family home residential area there. However, this project is currently on hold, so I am sure I will not receive any binding information. But you are right, I should at least inquire. On one of the plots northeast, construction is already underway, but I have not yet been able to find out who owns the others. By the way, I have reserved the above-mentioned plot for now, and tomorrow I will speak with the first contractor about what he thinks is possible. So far, I have no price expectations regarding how a three-story building compares to a single-family home of equivalent living space and quality standard. But thank you very much for the support; I have been occasionally reading here for a while but am still an absolute novice. Best regards, Rick