Almost as safe as the lawn, a fence is part of your garden design. It prevents unauthorized persons from entering your property and protects your privacy. In order to be able to make optimal use of your own garden, the fencing is usually erected directly on the property line - and in many cases it arouses resentment, anger or even a dispute. But what can you actually build at the border and is a real fence actually allowed? We provide information on the legal framework and different perspectives.
Private law vs. Public law
What is allowed and what is not is laid down in German law for a large number of factual issues and even individual cases. But anyone who thinks that everything is clearly defined and can be easily read is wrong. Because different areas of law have their own views on the same topic and can come to very different results. When it comes to the subject of the fence at the property line, the biggest difference is the basic division into private law and public law.
Public law
Here the legal relationships between the state and an individual, in our case the creator or Owner of the garden fence, regulated. In principle, clear permissions and also prohibitions are defined here, which everyone living in the area of responsibility of the state must adhere to. In our case, the following legislation, possibly affected by the fence on the border, is part of public law:
- Building planning law
- Building regulations
- Traffic law
Private law
This is in contrast to private law. It regulates how private parties, i.e. people, groups of people or organizations, deal with one another. The Saat is only active in the role of supervision, but apart from the enforcement of this right does not appear as a separate party with its own interests. In the case of fencing on the property line, this is primarily the neighborhood law.
Allowed or not?
- This is what the legal areas say -
Now that it has become clear how many areas of law come from fundamentally different categories when answering the simple question "May I Put a fence on the property line? "want to have a say, it also becomes clear that there is probably no clear and, above all, simple answer will. It is best to proceed step by step and look at the individual subject areas one after the other in isolated form:
1. Building planning law
The following applies here
the Building Code (BauGB). And that is the same throughout Germany. This law does not make any requirements for fences, walls or other so-called "enclosures". However, the development plans are based on it, which everyone who has built before is sure to be familiar with. The zoning plans are regulated in sections 8 to 10 of the building code, and section 30 provides essential information on the application of the zoning plan created in this way. In the development plans there may be specifications for:- general admissibility of fences
- Type, material and appearance of permissible fence systems
- Altitude limits
- Areas to be kept clear of fences.
So if there is a development plan for your own building plot, it is very easy to see what is generally possible in terms of fencing and what is not allowed. Very seldom are there any very direct specifications regarding the current issue as to whether the construction may actually take place on the property boundary, or whether a boundary distance may be observed is.
TIP: If there is no information about the fence in the development plan, you do not have to despair. This simply means that building planning law does not impose any requirements or restrictions here.
2. Building regulations
In contrast to building planning law, building regulations do not regulate what may be built, but how it must be built. Since this area of law is regulated in the so-called state building regulations, each federal state can set its own requirements. However, orientation is usually based on the so-called model building regulations, which contribute the bulk of all specifications. Anyone looking for information on garden fences here will not find anything on the admissibility of borders. However, if there are design specifications for fences in a development plan, from a legal point of view these come from building regulations, so it should be mentioned here for the sake of completeness.
TIP: A legal trick of the state building regulations is the so-called application for exemption. If a development plan prohibits you from building a fence on the property line, you can apply for an exemption from this prohibition. With a plausible justification, it may be that you can then implement your enclosure according to your wishes.
From state to state
Although there is no answer to our question, it is still good to know that fences are loud
Model building regulations and almost all of the state building regulations that have been introduced may, to a certain extent, be erected without a procedure. This means that you can build your fence without having to apply first. In terms of content, there is a consistent stipulation with one exception, whereby the place of the writing can vary from case to case:a) Freedom of procedure up to a height of 2.00 m
Both the model building regulations and almost all other building regulations grant the erection of a garden fence procedural freedom up to a height of 2.00 meters. You can read about this, for example, in the following paragraphs:
- Model building regulations §61
- Bavarian building regulations §58
- Hessian building regulations §63
- Rhineland-Palatinate state building regulations §62
b) General procedural freedom
Baden-Württemberg is the only federal state to have eliminated the upper height limit for fences that can be erected without a building application from its legal text. According to Section 50, you can therefore build enclosures of any type and dimension without an application, provided that the other criteria for admissibility are met.
TIP: It is therefore worthwhile not to look for a paragraph with a number, but rather for the keyword of procedural freedom in the table of contents of the relevant state building code!
3. Traffic law
If you live at an intersection, it is possible that a fence system erected directly at the border obstructs the view of the vehicles in the area of the intersection. Traffic law issues can then constitute a ban on your enclosure. You don't have to judge for yourself whether this is also the case for you. It is particularly easy again when there is a development plan. This is because this also addresses issues relating to traffic law and, in the event of a visual impairment, clearly specifies where the fencing may be erected and, above all, where it is not.
What is where in traffic law?
If, on the other hand, this stipulation does not exist in the development plan, it is worth making a brief request to the local regulatory office. The employees of this authority can quickly provide you with information as to whether something is contrary to your project. If, on the other hand, you look for a written legal basis yourself, you will unfortunately have little success without relevant knowledge of traffic law. Because in traffic law, countless individual subject areas with their own regulations come together to form a coherent area of law. Possible restrictions for your fencing can therefore result, for example, from these areas of traffic law:
- Road Traffic Act
- Road traffic regulations
- Country-specific regulatory law, e.g. B. Provincial Law of Regulations
- Community-specific statutes and regulations
As you can see, a wide variety of legal norms play a role here, some of which are in the hands of the federal, state or even municipal authorities. Make use of the possibility of having a central contact person in your community and avoid problems because you did not necessarily have an eye on all the topics that were affected!
Now all areas have been dealt with from which the state can issue a direct ban on your garden fence. If a negative result only comes out in one of the sub-areas, that is enough to make the construction impossible for you, or at least inadmissible.
Private law - flexible and individual
It looks completely different in private law, so for you in matters of garden fences in neighboring law. There are clear guidelines here as to what is allowed as a fence, but they give way Requirements - again it is about state law - very strong from state to state from each other. So it's worth it
It is essential to take a look at the neighboring law of your own federal state in order to be able to rule out difficulties. On the other hand, there is no uniform federal law on this topic, as the relevant Sections 903 to 924 of the Civil Code do not make any specific statements about fences.The federal states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Berlin are briefly presented here as extreme and strongly contradicting examples of fixing above fences.
a) Baden-Württemberg:
- allowed: fencing directly on the border up to a height of 1.50 m
- Also allowed: higher systems if the limit distance is at least the 1.50 m limit
- Example: 2.00m height with 0.50m limit distance permitted, since the 1.50m limit is exceeded = 0.50m
- Example: 1.80m height with 0.20m limit distance NOT allowed, since limit distance only allows the 1.50m limit of 0.20m to be exceeded, but 0.30m is actually present
If you adhere to these simple guidelines, your neighbor will have to put up with your fence system and have no way of taking action.
ATTENTION: Remember that in addition to these rules of neighboring law, public law issues must still be observed!
b) Berlin:
- no information on the distances to be observed depending on the height
- BUT: if requested by the neighbors, fencing is mandatory (!!)
- Execution including fence height in the customary local size, i.e. according to the type and dimension of existing fences in the area
- without comparison objects approx. 1.25 m high chain link fence
So now you can use a comparatively manageable catalog of queries from the respective Work through state neighborhood law and finally to one that is positive or negative for you Result come. If you are allowed to build on the limit, your request is in order and you can take action. If, on the other hand, your project does not meet the legal possibilities up to this point, you should Don't be despondent either, but take another look back at the definition of private law throw:
- applies between private parties
- The state only intervenes as an enforcement authority
- Prosecution of violations is not self-propelled, but only when reported (!)
At this point, one thing becomes very clear: the state intervenes and punishes if the neighboring law is not obeyed. But he only does it when the disadvantaged neighbor reports the matter and thus asks for support. If your fence is 2.00 m high on the property line, your neighbor can file a complaint and the state will ask you to remove the fence again. But: your neighbor doesn't have to do that! If he agrees with your fencing, he can also tolerate higher fences from you without having to be active. Because the neighboring law offers every neighbor a certain right to protection, but no obligation to take advantage of this protection.
TIP: Talk to your neighbor at an early stage when planning your fence to find out whether he has a problem with it, or perhaps even welcome the separation of the two plots. If that is the case, you can safely neglect the neighboring law and clarify the public law issues that have already been dealt with!
Conclusion: yes or no?
In conclusion, the simple question about the admissibility of a fence directly on the border cannot be answered unequivocally. Instead, the answer is yes if... with several query criteria that ultimately lead to reliable information. So check carefully before you start buying or placing the contract with a craftsman.
