ᐅ Request for knee wall height increase by 20 cm (approximately 8 inches)

Hello everyone,

In our building permit / planning permission, we have a knee wall height of 80cm (31.5 inches).
Since every centimeter counts, we would like to try increasing this to 1m (39 inches).
What is the best way to do this?
Is it possible to submit an application before filing the building permit / planning permission?
Or should we simply submit the building permit / planning permission with a knee wall height of 1m (39 inches) and hope that it gets approved?
I have heard several times that an increase of +20cm (8 inches) is usually approved without issues.

Best regards

Who owns it then?
If you want to deviate from the zoning plan, a complete building permit application / planning permission must be submitted, which will then be approved or rejected.

As far as I remember, we applied for and were granted a special exemption from the zoning plan to increase the total wall height by about 14 cm (5.5 inches). However, it was quite a challenge for our architect! Our “advantage” was probably that the zoning plan is around 30 years old, and the newer zoning plan just one street over already allows a wall height increase of 30 cm (12 inches).

With a current zoning plan that specifies knee wall height, I personally wouldn’t have much hope, but you really can only find out by trying.

Assuming I go ahead and try, will the plan simply be rejected and require resubmission of the site development plan / zoning plan (which can sometimes take months to process), or will it be noted on the knee wall that it is only allowed to be 80cm (31.5 inches) high instead of 100cm (39.4 inches), and then the site development plan / zoning plan gets approved?

I just want to avoid wasting unnecessary time with multiple rounds.

Kind regards and thank you

In this forum, "Bebauungsplan" always refers to the development plan. You probably mean the drawings for the building permit / planning permission application, or the building notification, if a development plan exists in your area.

WilhelmRo schrieb:


I just don’t want to waste time unnecessarily with multiple rounds.

It’s probably a bit different everywhere. If the officials are helpful (like here with us), they will call you and say, “This won’t work like that; you need to provide this and that.” Then you submit the additional documents, and the application process continues. If they are overloaded, they might just reject it quickly and that’s it.
Is there anyone nearby who owns a measuring tape? Then ask them.