Oberursel’s town council decided in their last meeting before the summer break to examine the case for selling of unprofitable properties, most of which are currently rented out below the market rate and need a large number of repairs carried out to them.
My article about the debate is on page 5 in the Oberurseler Woche. Click here to read it online (in German).
Ever since I started following the proceedings at Oberursel’s town hall more closely, I kept coming across the word “Bebauungsplan”. I knew that it had something to do with planning permission, but I noticed that there were several stages involved and decided to find out more.
My previous knowledge about such things probably explains it in the most simple terms. Towns in Germany define Bebauungspläne for particular areas to specify what type of buildings can be built there, eg. residential, commercial or industrial, and the limits that these buildings can have. So there are rules that I have come across in our road on what percentage of a plot of land can be built on and how much floorspace a house can have.
But they can also include details such as areas set aside for recreation, or which type of plants will be used, or where car parking spaces will be.
The whole thing is set down in German building law, § 9 BauGB to be precise. [Read more…]
… or how to take a shower after 10pm in Germany.
If you rent a flat in Germany, or even if you own property, you are usually bound by something called the “ortsübliche Ruhezeiten”.
Ruhezeit is quite simple to translate – quiet time. It is the time when you have to be quiet, i.e. not make a noise that could be heard outside of the flat.
That’s the easy part.
ortsüblich is one of those words that tries to define something, but fails. It literally means “the usual times for where you live”.
So the ortsübliche Ruhezeiten are the usual times to keep quiet in the place that you live in. [Read more…]
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