GER: Cutting back Greenery is Owners’ Responsibility

Aug 30, 2024 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

Country cycling is great, but it shouldn’t make people ‘see green’. If branches and shrubs from properties extend into cycleways, the owners are obliged to cut them back.

In the case at hand, shrubs and branches on the plaintiff’s rural property overhung a cycle path. In June and August 2022, the man was ordered by the North Rhine-Westphalia State Roads Authority to remove the overhanging vegetation. When he failed to comply, the order was enforced by means of coercive measures: A company was hired to cut back the vegetation, and the owner was sent the bill. He is now taking legal action.

The administrative court has dismissed the case, stating that the roads authority had acted legally.

The man was served with a legal notice to trim the vegetation on his property back to the property’s boundary, or to have it trimmed at his own expense, but he failed to do so. His age and state of health are no excuse for this, nor could he credibly argue that the overgrown vegetation posed no hazard to cyclists. On the contrary, there was increased danger to cyclists if the greenery were to be kept in place.

The subsequent decision regarding the payment of around EUR 2,700 was also lawful. The state roads authority was authorised to hire a company to carry out the pruning after the man made it clear that he would not do so.

There was no less severe means of enforcing the obligation imposed on the plaintiff. Furthermore, the roads authority had obtained tenders from four specialised companies and awarded the contract to the lowest bidder.

Similarly, the roads authority was not obliged to carry out the pruning itself with its own staff and equipment. As a matter of principle, the authority has the right to choose how to have a matter like this resolved.

VG Muenster 8 K 3248/22 (1 August 2024)