Can I put a fence on the property line?

Those who own their own home are usually looking for privacy. A fence is therefore often one of them. But can you build it on the property line? What does the law say and what rights does the neighbor have?

Legal areas affected

Unfortunately, the question about the fence on the property line cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Depending on the local circumstances, very different areas of law can be affected and deal with the answer to the question:

• Building planning law
• Building regulations
• Conservation law
• Neighbor law

If you now look at the individual subject areas, you should urgently distinguish between two areas: public law and private law

Public law

The public areas of law here include building law and nature conservation law. “Public” means that these topics are binding for you, regardless of what your neighbor says about it, for example.

Building planning law

In general, there is no regulation of the building planning law that prohibits the erection of a fence on the property line. In most federal states, this measure is even permitted without a form of building permit.

Building regulations

However, as an appendix to a development plan, a municipality can issue design stipulations that regulate and limit the construction of a fence system. For example, it can contain information on:

• Necessary limit distance
• A maximum height
• Materials to be used
• Local bans on fences from creative or z. B. traffic-related reasons (view in intersections)

Conservation law

Actually, nature conservation law does not regulate the development of private residential property. However, there is an exception if your property is on the outskirts. Then nature conservation law can prohibit a fence to the outside in the direction of the great outdoors. Whether this is the case depends heavily on the individual parameters of your property.

Tip: The lower building law authorities, mostly the respective district offices, are responsible for all of the public law issues mentioned. Before you get lost in the multitude of possible regulations, you should work with your specific one right there If you have any concerns, ask whether something is against the construction of your fence with the desired location, size and materiality speaks.

Private rights

Private law in the form of neighboring law, on the other hand, is of a completely different nature. This is about the law between two private parties, usually between you and the neighbor on the other side of the fence. The decisive factor is that neighboring law only applies if one of the two parties demands it. For the question about the fence on the property line, this means:

If your neighbor demands compliance with the neighboring law, the provisions of the neighboring law on fences on the border apply equally as building law and nature conservation law do anyway. According to neighboring law, the following applies to fences:

• basically allowed directly on the border
• Height restriction up to 1.50 meters
• Each time the required limit distance of 1.50 meters is exceeded in the same dimension

Example:

• 1.20 meters height allowed on the border
• 1.50 meters height allowed on the border
• 1.80 meters in height must keep 0.30 meters (exceeding the 1.50 meter limit) limit distance

Tip: Ask your neighbor before you start building the fence. In most cases, any objections can be cleared up quite easily and completely eliminated with small changes to your fence.

frequently asked Questions