Unintentional boundary encroachment garage

That happens every day for a variety of reasons.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

I once spoke to various workers and experts about this. There was unanimous agreement that new constructions are worked on and measured precisely. You are also a professional, so I would be interested to know what could cause this in new development areas.

Quite simply: hardly any of the workers and specialists you have spoken to are technically capable of checking a boundary stone found on site, unless they are a publicly appointed surveyor or similar. If boundary stones are missing (sometimes intentionally, due to postponed marking so that the stones are not destroyed during the construction phase), even less so. Errors also simply occur due to incorrect measurements and planning. In addition, there are differences that are hardly comprehensible for laypeople as well as architects/planners between local marking and cadastral coordinates. This sometimes leads to subordinate court rulings that are completely incomprehensible to laypeople.

Or one saves on the surveyor for staking out for cost reasons, because surveyors are considered too expensive and unnecessary anyway. The "clean-up" then costs 5 to 10 times as much, in court often a factor of 100.

The 8 cm, for example, is a typical deviation of unfinished construction/exterior wall. It is quite possible that the outer wall was staked out here, but the shell was erected along this axis. It is also common to orient oneself on the neighbor’s garage when boundary stones are missing. Then one assumes that the neighbor’s garage is correctly positioned – if that is not the case, the error continues...

To be fair, however, it must be said that there is indeed a higher standard in new development areas today than there was 20 or 30 years ago. Nevertheless, such encroachments happen for various reasons, especially in the area of garages. But this is not dramatic; as mentioned, it is only recorded informatively in the cadastre. Ultimately, what matters is whether the affected neighbor is indeed restricted and how severe the restriction is or how it can be remedied.

If – as here – the area of the encroachment is less than 1 m², one really has to ask where the impairment lies that would justify a dismantling or similar.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

The boundary was actually clearly defined; it must simply have gone wrong during the execution planning.

if a garage stands next to another garage and the 8cm closer only causes both buildings to stand a little closer together, it will hardly lead to a real problem. as already calculated, however, you appropriate 0.72m² from the neighbor. with square meter prices around €200 and so on, that's not a gift. the simplest thing will be to come to a written agreement in a neighborly manner. you pay a one-time fee for 1 sqm (or just 0.72 sqm) and put it in writing, then just leave it at that. it looks really bad, however, if the neighbor does not yet have a garage/carport or something similar and needs those 8cm, for example because it is a prefabricated garage or something similar. in our area, it is built so that everyone rather leaves 10cm free to the neighbor than really goes hard to zero. the public institutions probably don't care much about who has what non-registrable objects standing where, as long as no one complains. of course, that is still not great as it can/will cause problems later with inheritances or when selling (yourself/the neighbor).

If a garage stands next to another garage and the 8cm closer only results in both buildings standing a bit closer together, it will hardly lead to a real problem.

As long as there is enough space on the other side for pushing, it’s not a problem.

As already calculated, you appropriate 0.72m² from the neighbor. At prices of around €200 per m², that’s not free. The easiest way is to reach a written neighborhood agreement. You pay a one-time fee for 1m² (or 0.72m²) and record this in writing and then just leave it at that.

Nice idea, unfortunately illegal. To buy even one square meter, this square meter must be partitioned and assigned to the other parcel by purchase contract/land register transfer. There is no other way, and otherwise it has no legal effect.

Since the whole effort is not worth it for 1m², one solves it differently.

It looks really bad if the neighbor has no garage/carport or similar yet and needs these 8cm, e.g. because it is a prefabricated garage or similar. In our area, buildings are constructed so that everyone leaves about 10cm to the neighbor rather than really going hard to 0.

That also has disadvantages. It is not possible in dense development; every centimeter is already needed/utilized.

Public institutions probably don’t care much about who has non-registrable objects where, as long as no one complains. Of course, that’s not great, because later it can/will cause problems with heirs or when selling (oneself/neighbor).

Public institutions often really don’t care because, contrary to popular belief, they usually have no interest in investigating behind every garden shed.

Garages are generally registration-required objects, at least I am not aware of any federal state where this is not the case. Regulations regarding carports vary by state, but for example in NRW carports are recorded when measured simultaneously with the main or other ancillary buildings including their boundary references and thus usually enter the cadastre – which makes sense, although in NRW they themselves are not subject to mandatory measurement.

Furthermore, building unregistered or unapproved outbuildings (so-called illegal structures) regularly leads to problems if a subsequent building application is later made, whether for one's own extension or the neighbor’s expansion including easement on the “illegally” built property.

At this point, the only advice is to plan/build your illegal structures so that they can at least be approved if necessary. Because if someone does complain after all, you can legalize the illegal structure with reasonable effort (e.g. by a surcharge from the building authority on the permit fee).

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

Nice idea, unfortunately illegal. To buy even one square meter, this square meter must be partitioned and transferred to the other parcel by purchase contract/land register entry. There is no other way, or it would have no legal effect.

No one is talking about legal effect and/or official confirmation. It's about making the neighbor satisfied and not causing a fuss. As you already said, there are other solutions if the owner has no problem with it. Our house is exactly 6 meters from the boundary to put a carport theoretically 6 meters wide against it. If we were theoretically to lose 8 cm, the driveway area would later also be about 8 cm smaller, which would not be great for the double carport. Since the neighboring property has not even been sold yet, that can't happen to us.