Neighbors shocked by the building structure. Who has experienced this before?

That would be even worse. If the neighbor doesn't like your nose, you're not allowed to build? Even the Bavarians wouldn't come up with something like that.

In my parents' neighborhood, a gap in the buildings was closed (or rather, a former garden was built on). The house is a city villa block right in the middle of old gable-roofed 1.5-story houses, so architecturally it didn't really pay attention to the surroundings. At first, there was some grumbling in the neighborhood, but that is now completely forgotten. This family is very open and sociable and has integrated very well into the neighborhood, constantly up for a chat on the street. Now they just live there. And the house just stands there, like all the other houses. Sometimes you just have to endure the initial displeasure, and then everything turns out fine.

My parents live in a village on the dike of an Elbe tributary... all the buildings there are single-story, some with a half-story, so normal gable roof houses or farmhouses with a clipped gable roof, lots of half-timbered buildings, but also each decade represented in its style. In between is a nursery with greenhouses... now a realtor has torn down the parents' house (thatched roof) and built what feels like a three-story building with black stone. A cube. The first flat roof in the area. Taller than wide. Looks like a water tower or something.

When you look in from the dike, you can see that one area has no ceiling, so a modern chandelier hangs in the middle of the house. That was already a reason for my parents, who live 400 meters away, to argue about the height. I don't want to know how the immediate neighbors see it. However, the property is very spacious. Rumor has it that it was built too high, then there was a waiting period and then he moved in. I assume it was a buyout [emoji6] I personally doubt that the development plan originally clearly allowed something like this. But an expert recognizes the gap. There is at least a clearance area.

Something like what exists in Bavaria does not exist here in Lower Saxony. At least I've never heard of it.

Simply put, the signatures in Bavaria are not worth the paper they are supposed to be on. If they don't sign, then they don't sign. As long as you comply with the applicable law (§34 or development plan, etc.), the neighbor can't do much, or rather nothing. We were told that the approval process would be handled faster if all neighbors signed. It still took months until we got the approval. But we also had a neighbor who was not very happy and even had our plans reviewed by a lawyer, although she no longer lives there, but rented out her house.

Some neighbors just think they have to assert their (non-existent) rights by acting up. Let them. As long as you follow all the rules, in my opinion, the neighbors couldn't care less.

But I am also someone who could never have imagined building in a new development area with a very restrictive development plan. I find it nice when people build individually. That then someone shows up with a pink Tuscany villa just can't be avoided...

The gentlemen and ladies should have just bought the gap. In general, whoever wants the view to the horizon has to buy the land up to the horizon...

The gentlemen and ladies should have just bought the gap. In general, if you want the view all the way to the horizon, you just have to buy the land up to the horizon...

I think the OP is more about getting used to it and then the "shock," because you couldn't even imagine anymore what it's actually like when a house is built next door where nothing stood for a long time.

It's not just the getting used to it. Who likes having construction vehicles, noise, and dust next to their property? The streets get dirty and are sometimes even damaged. But of course, you have to get through it, just think about your own construction period, but I can understand why some neighbors react that way.