Wall height to the neighbor

Hello,

we want to place a wall stone at the lowest point to make the garden soil nice and even. The height of the wall at this point would be about 1.18 m instead of 98 cm. Walls up to 1 meter are exempt from approval; with the neighbor's consent, it can also be higher.

The length of the wall at 1.18 meters would be only about 3 meters.

Now comes the tricky part. The neighbor is nice and says yes, go ahead and put it up, no problem, but does not want to give anything in writing because he has already had problems with other neighbors over this and it escalated to court. Would you still place the stone on an oral basis? How is it legally, is there something like customary law if he does not "object" within a certain period?

We do not want him to say in 4 years, hey, the wall is too high and has to be removed.

Now comes the crucial point. The neighbor is nice and says yes, go ahead and put it on, no problem, but doesn't want to give anything in writing because he has already had problems with other neighbors about this and it escalated in court. Would you still place the stone on an oral basis?

I would do it!
Make sure he stays nice, forgets the 20 cm (meaning don't bring it up again) and won't measure again after years!

The next reply after me will want everything in writing ;)

Regards, Yvonne

Seriously, the thing with the neighbor will probably work out fine. But if the house is sold, the problem will come up again at the latest if the new owner is not okay with the height. We have this in our circle of acquaintances. The fence that was too high had to be removed for that reason. Of course, it wouldn’t be recorded in writing...

Hello,

there are objection periods for fences/walls if one goes beyond the permit-free framework.

If - as here - a wall/fence up to 1m is allowed and one builds a wall that is actually 1.50m high without written consent/building application (consider the reference height! It may differ from the actual ground level!), then the affected neighbor must formally/written object within a legally regulated period, otherwise this can be interpreted as tacit acceptance if no other building law objections exist.

Neighbor law is a matter for the federal states or can also be regulated by local statutes, so in case of doubt first identify the applicable legal source and check the applicable periods/regulations in each case.

Best regards Dirk Grafe