Roof access in a multi-family house

Hello and good morning to the forum,

we own a single-family house which is connected by a shared roof with two other houses (house to house). From very old times, there is a fixed roof access ladder on our property. Now there are problems with a new buyer who has purchased one of the houses. He enters our property without asking and, since the ladder starts only about 1.5 meters high, he climbs the ladder by bracing himself against the house wall. Of course, he could also bring a small step ladder, but apparently, this is too much effort for him.

Question about the legal situation. Do we have to grant roof access to our neighbor just because the roof access ladder is also attached to our house wall? Both the middle neighbor and the "bad new neighbor," who, like us, lives in an end house, could get onto the roof themselves with a leaning ladder. (The house has two stories)

Who can give us good advice here.

Thank you very much for the support

Hello,

Question about the legal situation. Do we have to grant roof access to our neighbor just because the roof access ladder is attached to the wall of our house?

What does the notarized contract, which surely underlies the house purchase, say?

Kind regards

Hello Eüi.

Thank you for the message.

We bought in 1991, built in 1969. The contracts I have do not mention the ladder.

Regards lupus

Hello,

We bought in 1991, it was built in 1969. In the contracts available to me, the ladder is not mentioned.

Not explicitly about a ladder :-) But what about other rights of the two neighbors to walk over your property to access the roof? Anything about that in the notary contract or registered in the land register?

Kind regards

Good morning,
there is a mutual right of way, which however only concerns the driveways or walkways around the shared house. Nothing has been agreed upon a shared access over our property, for example to get onto the roof.

Regards lupus

Hello,

"Question about the legal situation. Do we have to grant roof access to our
neighbor just because the roof access ladder is attached to our house wall? Both the middle neighbor and the "mean new neighbor",
who, like us, lives in an end house, could climb onto the
roof with a leaning ladder. (The house is two stories)"

there is a reciprocal right of way, which, however, only concerns the driveways or walkways around the shared house. There is no provision for joint access via our property to, for example, get onto the roof.

Subject to the correctness of the information and noting that legal advice in Germany is exclusively reserved for the legal professions, I would say that you can refuse your neighbor access via your ladder and instead ask him to use his own double casement window. The easiest way - i.e., without much neighborhood conflict - in my opinion, is to remove the ladder ;)

Kind regards