The neighbor's roof protrudes onto my building land

Hello,

Years ago, I bought a plot of land with old brick buildings on it. These are not used for residential purposes but so far as storage rooms. However, there is also a building permit for the developed plot, and I am now actually planning to build there, for which I would first have to demolish parts of the old buildings.

On the right and left of my property are also old but inhabited houses. Apparently, it used to be normal here to build wall to wall. Am I allowed, according to the overall appearance of the street, to build directly against the neighbor’s wall? That would be a problem because the neighbor’s roof extends onto my property... The roof is not as old as the neighbor’s house. I don’t know how it looked back then, but now this low roof extends about 70 cm at a height of approximately 5 meters, which could of course jeopardize my plans.

How can one come to an agreement and what rights do I have at all? Surely, the neighbor needs a roof and I want to come to a peaceful agreement, but I also don’t want to scrabble my own plans because someone is overstepping their property boundaries.

Thanks for initial tips, Benson

First, you need to have the building permit that you require if you want to build new. Only the existing houses will have protection of status. You have to apply, for example, to build directly onto the neighboring building. If this is not approved, you will have a problem anyway. If you are allowed to build there, I would go to the neighbor with my plans and make him aware that he has built on your property. From my naive perspective: he is not allowed to do that, or only if you approve it (or he has been contractually granted some rights - possibly by the previous owners?). Therefore, I would look for a solution with him and, in a serious case, insist on the property boundaries.

Oh, that's quite a strange story. What does the roof look like, could it possibly be shortened? I think the best thing is just to go to him and talk to him about the matter. How did he even manage that? Didn't anyone notice?

How did he even manage that? Didn't anyone notice?

It is a building plot/a future building gap (there are still a few old buildings on the property), where old, partly very old houses stand on the left and right. Monument protection is not an issue, but it used to be common to build directly on the property boundary. With a normal, steeply pitched roof, you then have an overhanging roof edge. Honestly, I don't know how you can prevent such an overhang if the house stands directly on the property boundary...

On the other hand, it is my property and I want to use the space as efficiently as possible. The plot is almost 400m² and if I can't position the house as efficiently as possible (because, for example, someone's roof protrudes onto my property), then not much is left of the garden.

A question that is directly related to this: If EVERYONE on this street has built wall to wall or on the property boundary, am I then allowed to do the same with my new building? And if not, am I at least allowed to build a garage almost directly on the neighbor's wall?

Hi,

but in the past it was usual to build directly on the property boundary.

but that is no longer common today. Unless it is permitted or even desired according to planning laws. But normally, you have to maintain a setback distance when building new.
The safest bet is to go to the building authority. They will be able to provide you with the information you need.

Regards

Hello the old buildings have a so-called [Bestandsschutz]. So you can't do very much to them. At least that's how it has been for me. I live in BW and there you have to stay 3 meters away from the boundary, but only for new buildings. Regards Heiner