Building code Berlin requires fire department access - even with a possible fire escape staircase?
Hello,
As a community of owners, we are directly affected by the buildings on the neighboring property. A three-story house plus a penthouse floor has been built there. The residents of the same property have several parking spaces available to them, while us neighbors are left with only a few, highly contested parking spaces on public ground. After the completion of the aforementioned building, we were very unpleasantly surprised when a very long and wide fire lane, due to the narrow, single-lane street, was created afterwards, destroying three (!) public parking spaces in front of our house. Here are our questions:
1) Is it possible to request access to the construction documents from the client in order to see if the client had the option of choosing between a fire escape staircase and a fire lane?
2) Is it possible to request access to the records from the relevant authority or to obtain information about the alternatives available at the time of construction?
3) Is it possible to request the removal of the fire lane and the subsequent installation of an external staircase from the penthouse to the 2nd floor? Are there standards or rules that suggest or even require minimal interference in public space, or is the decision entirely up to the developer or building planning office, and therefore not subject to appeal? If the apartments have been sold, this may be more difficult. The relationship between the rights and duties of property owners is determined by §§ 14, 22 WEG: according to this, structural changes, especially if they have a detrimental effect on the special property of one of the condominium owners, require a unanimous decision. However, there are limitations to this applicability where it is not about structural changes, but about the initial establishment of a proper condition: then a majority decision is sufficient. For example, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt decided, file number: 20W270/03, for the construction or reconstruction of an external staircase that does not comply with technical regulations.
If the apartments have only been rented out, could the landlord then still commission the installation of the external staircase afterwards?
4) Can we do anything at all, now that the parking spaces were on public ground, or do we simply have to accept that we have an extremely selfish person as a neighbor?
Thank you for your effort!
Kind regards,
L.S.
