Assistance with Construction and Inheritance Law | Legal Aid Office

Questioner

We want to renovate our house. Our plan is to build out the back and a little to the side, stay 1 meter away from the property line on the side. We would also like to add a canopy to the extension, but... This canopy will be on the side of the (indoor) garage of our neighbors. This garage is on / against the property boundary. We have tried to talk and consult with our neighbors in peace, but to no avail. The neighbors want us to stay at least one meter from their garage with the canopy. This would mean that we would get a strip of 1 meter wide and +/- 9 meters long on the side of our plot! Can they demand this of us? We made an intermediate proposal: a canopy at 50cm distance from their garage but there is really no way to talk to them. What now?

Lawyer

If the garage is on the property line, there is a shared wall and there are extensions to shared property and there is no need to keep a distance. (Article 67 paragraph 5 of Book 5 of the Dutch Civil Code)

Lawyer

Additional. If your neighbours' (garage) wall is on their land, but against the property line (so not on/over the property line), then you may not use this wall to anchor or the like, but you may carry out your building plan up to the property line (I assume that the neighbours' wall is a blind wall). Please note that your drainage/gutter etc. does not protrude over the property line.

Lawyer

The garage wall belongs to the neighbours. You may not use it to attach the canopy. However, it is not mandatory to maintain a distance of one metre.

Questioner

Can we determine the distance between the neighbours garage and our canopy ourselves? For example 5 cm? Should there be a problem in the future with the garage wall of the neighbors and we have a distance of 5 cm. Who is liable then? Of course we will ensure good drainage! But it remains a gap between the walls... We suggested to the neighbours to make a good/watertight transition between the two roofs, of course at our expense, but they flatly refused. Is it wise to have the neighbours' garage inspected before the renovation to prevent any problems in the future?

Lawyer

A common rule of thumb is that structures are either built against each other or with a distance of one meter (to be able to perform maintenance on the facade). In the case of roofs, maintenance on the (side) facade is also possible if a shorter distance is observed. Having the neighbours' garage inspected seems a bit excessive to me, unless you plan to pile the roof.