ᐅ Balcony on garage located on the property boundary

Hello,

I have a question about using a balcony on top of a garage that is built right on the boundary line with the neighbor. Does the same 3 m (10 feet) distance rule to the neighbor apply here? For example, if the garage is 4 m (13 feet) wide, does that mean the balcony can only be 1 m (3 feet) wide? And if the garage is only 3 m (10 feet) wide, is it not allowed at all?

We live in NRW, I think that is also important.

Thanks in advance for the information.

I believe your thoughts are exactly on point.

This is about privacy protection: it’s hard to imagine if neighbors were allowed to look directly down onto my property. No one would want that, not even you!

But what is correct in this case? For example, if I want a 6-meter (20-foot) wide garage, am I then allowed to use 3 meters (10 feet) of that for the balcony? Would that mean I would effectively maintain a 3-meter (10-foot) distance to the neighbor?

A garage built directly on the property line is basically "privileged." However, if you add a roof terrace on top, it loses this status and you have to comply with the 3-meter (10 feet) setback again. So you either reduce the terrace by 3 meters (which would be possible, for example, with your double garage) or keep the 3-meter (10 feet) distance from the property line with the garage.

We are currently dealing with this issue as well. Since we are still in the planning phase, we prefer to maintain the 3-meter (10 feet) setback from the property line in order to plan the full terrace. However, this increases the width of our plot to about 30 meters (98 feet), which does not necessarily make the search easier.

A garage built on the property boundary is considered a privileged structure and must not be used for any other purpose. Converting such a garage into an office or similar use is not allowed, as the structure would then lose its privileged status and could no longer be located on the boundary. The same applies to a roof terrace. To my knowledge, even with a 3m (10 feet) setback from the boundary, one is not permitted to build a roof terrace on it. However, a balcony that is positioned above the garage and does not rest directly on it could be approved, provided the required setback from the boundary is observed.

MarcWen schrieb:
We are currently also dealing with this issue. Since we are still in the planning phase, we prefer to maintain the 3-meter (10-foot) distance to the property boundary to be able to design the entire terrace. However, this increases our lot frontage to about 30 meters (100 feet), which doesn’t exactly make the search easier.

Do I understand correctly that you are already planning a rooftop terrace on a garage even though you don’t have a plot yet?