Wall on property boundary

Neighbors have had the experience - however, the garage (brick-built) was not yet finished. Result: The corner had to be chipped off and properly adjusted, including the foundation. They also do not really have nice neighbors on this side...

Has anyone had experience when the neighbor's garage sits with a corner on your own property and therefore you can no longer build a boundary wall in a straight line?

Yes, daily. Professionally.

Quick option: Build the wall so that it fits, drink beer - done.

Still a quick option, if it really has to be: call the local surveyor and inquire about boundary deviations/encroachments. Usually, not much comes of it; in NRW, garage encroachments are only recorded for information in the cadastre. For it to become relevant enough to lead to a construction servitude registration/division or similar, it has to be more than just a corner on the neighbor’s land – what a judge makes of that might be another matter.

Less quick option: Go to court and create arm-thick piles of files, where after 5 years it turns out nothing comes of it and everyone drinks their beer alone.

So, how big is the (alleged) encroachment? Are the boundary stones even still visible and intact? Otherwise, you can’t even verify the encroachment. It might just as well be that the garage is properly positioned and the boundary stone is shifted – then your wall might be the one that’s wrong. But all of this can be remedied/prevented if you choose option 1 (and the neighbor cooperates).

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

Good morning everyone,

there is an update. Yesterday, finally – after five months of waiting – the building permit with the red dot arrived.
Conclusion: We had access to the neighbor’s lawyer’s letter; he had speculated that the property might not be allowed to be built on at all because, in his opinion, various guidelines and regulations could not be met. Fortunately, that is not the case. We are now exempt from building the northern parking space, are allowed to extend the wall 5 meters into the property at street level height. In addition, the wall – as required by building law – may be 1.50m high from the existing ground, which is more than enough for us. Things like the accusation that we had too few bicycle parking spaces were dismissed by the building authority from the start.
Our joy is great on our side, and now we hope for an available slot with the developer soon so that we can get started shortly.

Best regards

I am happy for you that these obstacles have been cleared away.
Have fun building.
Make sure that the construction company really does everything correctly (site security; not driving on, entering, or using the neighbor's property; etc.). I can imagine that your dear neighbor will now place every stone in the way that he can get his hands on.