Neighborhood issues

If tenants want to barbecue in their garden or on their balcony, they should definitely take a look at the house rules and the tenancy agreement beforehand. The regional association "Haus & Grund Rheinland Westfalen" points this out. In some cases, barbecuing is completely prohibited. In residential complexes, barbecuing is often only permitted with electric barbecues to prevent fires....

When floods reach houses, quick action is required. The Association of Private Builders (VPB) points this out. Water in the basement should be removed immediately to prevent costly damage such as mold growth. According to the VPB, mold growth is particularly common in buildings with thermally insulated basements. To prevent long-term damage, it is important to dry out the cellar quickly...

How do people who live near so-called dike relocation areas perceive flood protection? Researchers from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Potsdam investigated this question. To this end, they surveyed over 300 people from Saxony-Anhalt in whose towns or cities dike relocation or floodplain renaturation measures have been carried out.

A neighbor dispute has ended up in court in Munich. In this case, a couple wanted to buy a six-square-metre plot of land from their neighbor in order to have access to Lake Pilsen. The couple own a plot without access to the lake and a tubular plot with access to the lake. However, the couple can only reach Lake Pilsen via the six square meter plot...

Do the reflections of a photovoltaic system constitute a nuisance for the neighbor or not? The Braunschweig Higher Regional Court had to deal with this question (Ref. 8 U 166/21). In this case, an owner sued his neighbor. The neighbor had installed a photovoltaic system on his roof. The panels would cause reflections of the sun's rays and a...

A building owner may not allow a tower crane to slew over a neighboring property without prior notice. This was decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Stuttgart (AZ: 4 U 74/22). In this case, two future neighbors in the district of Ludwigsburg were in dispute. The client had erected a slewing tower crane on the property boundary for the construction of two semi-detached houses and four garages....

A property owner cannot be held responsible for all accidents that happen on her property. This has now been decided by the Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court (OLG, Ref. 17 W 17/22). In this case, a neighbor walked across a rain-soaked stone path covered with leaves and branches to the owner's terrace to talk to her. On the way back, she fell and...

In the study "Hallo Nachbar*in - Die große Schweizer Nachbarschaftsstudie", the Swiss have investigated how neighborhoods function in Switzerland and what types of neighborhoods there are. Based on an empirical representative quantitative survey and a qualitative study, the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute concludes that "neighborhoods in Switzerland are...

If thermal insulation measures are implemented, the homeowners' association (WEG) must almost always approve them. This applies if the common property is affected. The association Wohnen im Eigentum (WiE) points this out. WiE advises owners to find out about the costs in advance, especially for larger measures such as roof and façade insulation. Furthermore...

Neighbors are not allowed to install surveillance cameras that record their own property as well as that of their neighbors. This has now been decided by the Bad Iburg District Court (AZ: 4 C 366/21). In this case, a neighbor of a semi-detached house had installed surveillance cameras with intelligent video technology on his property, which, among other things, were able to identify objects and people in real time....