German court: farmer cannot keep wood stove built into storage shed
The Stuttgart administrative court rejected a farmer's lawsuit and upheld the building authority's order to remove a stove and chimney from an agricultural shed. The shed itself needed no permit, but the heating installation did, and it could not be granted.
In southwestern Germany, the Stuttgart administrative court has ruled on a dispute between a part-time farmer and the local building authority over a wood stove installed in an agricultural shed. The court found that the authority acted lawfully in ordering the stove and chimney to be removed. The case matters to farmers who put up farm buildings outside built-up areas, because it shows where simplified building rules end.
How the dispute began
The farmer owns a plot outside the village's built-up area. He notified the building authority that he planned to build a shed for farm equipment measuring 11 by 9 metres. The plans showed no heating installation. The district office's agriculture department had stated that a farm building under 100 m² can be erected without a separate building permit if it is used for the farm.
After the shed was completed, the authority noticed a stove inside and a chimney on the roof. On request, the farmer submitted a building permit application for a shed with a stove. As justification, he said potatoes for his pigs had to be steamed on site.
The authority's decision
The authority rejected the application and ordered the stove and chimney removed within eight weeks. The shed itself could stay. It concluded that the stove falls outside the privileges for agricultural structures and that, as a foreign element, it harms the landscape outside built-up areas.
The court's ruling
The farmer sued. At the hearing he said he had retired, kept 16 sheep and 12–15 hens, and had stopped keeping pigs in connection with the renewed outbreak of swine fever. He also manages about 2 hectares of Christmas trees and argued the stove could be used for firewood as well. A settlement was not reached.
The court dismissed the claim. It found that by building a structure with a stove, the farmer had gone beyond what requires no permit, and the necessary permit could not be granted. The court also held that the structure does not serve an agricultural or forestry holding. The judgment is dated 14 December 2020.
