Permission for garage enlargement?

Hello

My husband and I signed a purchase contract for a plot of land in September, which included an embedded purchase contract for the construction of a semi-detached house... basically, the plot only came together with the planned semi-detached house, and a total of 3 semi-detached houses are being built simultaneously in the new residential development.

Because everything was already planned and we did not plan it ourselves, the building permit etc. had already been submitted. The semi-detached house will be handed over turnkey and also includes a garage directly adjoining the house. By now, the basement is built, and on Monday the first bricks of the ground floor will be laid.

During a conversation with the construction manager on site, the topic of the garage came up. The garage specified in the purchase contract and construction plans is 3 meters wide and is a prefabricated garage. There are still 2 meters between the garage and the neighboring plot. Now the construction manager asked us if the 3-meter garage would be sufficient for us or if he should order a larger one; everything was still open, and we could still express our wishes since nothing had been chosen yet. In terms of price, it would not make much difference if we decided to widen the garage by 1-2 meters; even if we took 5 meters as the width, that would be possible because you are allowed to build it up to the border with the neighboring plot, he told us. Now we have decided that a 4-meter wide garage would be enough for us... then we could at least fit the bicycles inside, especially since we also have a very wide car and 3 meters would already be very tight. Basically, we would now like to take the prefabricated garage one meter wider. But now it occurred to us that the building permit surely only applies to the 3-meter wide garage; although the construction manager said that would be no problem, we now have concerns that this might not be the case. Can you just suddenly make the garage one meter wider, or is it not that simple? Maybe someone knows about this... it would really help us a lot.

Thank you!
Steffi

oh yes...we live in Bavaria in case that is relevant.

No idea how it looks legally. But if you buy the house from the developer/GC, whose task also was/is the building permit, I would leave it to them to deal with. Maybe an addendum to the original contract and then have it built.

Garage is an outbuilding and usually does not require a permit if it does not exceed a certain size. I checked on Google and in Bavaria that is 50m2 floor area. In your place, I would use the full 5m in width. Because - what do you want to do with 1 meter left over? Make a passage? I think 1m is too little for that. But you can never really have enough garage.

Garage is an outbuilding and usually does not require a permit if it does not exceed a certain size.

I would like to disagree ... In the case of a new build, a garage in NRW is indeed subject to a building permit. I believe it is probably no different in Bavaria. With existing buildings and subsequent orders, the situation looks different again. Rhineland greetings

Hello Steffi

Since everything was already planned and not planned by us ourselves, the building permit etc. had already all been submitted. The semi-detached house will be handed over turnkey and also includes a garage directly adjoining the house. Meanwhile, the basement is standing and on Monday the first bricks of the ground floor will be laid. [...] Now the construction manager asked us whether the 3m garage is enough for us or if he should order a larger one, everything is still open and we can still express our wishes since nothing has been selected yet.

In terms of pure space offering that is certainly possible if the construction manager tells you so; however, I assume that a supplementary application to the building permit must be submitted. Who has to bear the costs for this should be evident from your contract documents.

It wouldn’t make much difference in price if we decide to widen the garage by 1-2m,

"Much" is always relative; a widening by 1.00 m or 2.00 meters costs more alone because there are surcharges regarding transport. On German roads, only widths of 3.00 m can be transported without approval; above that, costs for escort vehicles and/or night trips often have to be taken into account. It would be a different matter if the prefabricated garage were assembled from many individual elements; literally - analogous to prefabricated construction - wall by wall assembled on the intended place.

I would like to urge you to have the additional costs presented to you before you lightly give a commitment purely on trust.

Rhenish greetings