What are "neighbours" and what rights do they have? (Author: Evgeni Gerginski) "You can choose your neighbours, but you can't choose your relatives" is a famous saying. But is it really that easy with neighbours? Before the ancient Greeks, neighbourly disputes tended to be settled with large stones and clubs. It was not until the Twelve Tables Act from 450 BC that the foundations were laid for the first regulations between landowners (Roman law). Incidentally, this was initiated by the struggles between the plebeians and the patricians. These tablets were cast in bronze and exhibited in the Roman Forum - for example, tablet VII regulated real estate law. Among other things, it set out the distances between boundaries and buildings, the right of way and the demarcation of boundaries. Since the Habsburgs, these regulations in Austria have been a matter for the federal states in accordance with the Federal Constitution Act, meaning that each federal state can decide for itself how the term "neighbour" is to be interpreted and what rights arise from it. In Vienna, the term means that only properties that have common property boundaries or are separated by a maximum of 20 metres of public traffic areas are neighbouring properties. In contrast, in Vorarlberg only a spatial proximity is sufficient.According to the Supreme Court decision from 1970:"Anrainer" within the meaning of these provisions is the person whose property has a common land boundary (rain) or at least a common boundary point with another property owned by another party. It is no longer possible to speak of an adjoining property, but only of a "neighbouring" property, if there is a third, third-party-owned property between two properties, but where there is a certain spatial proximity. The building regulations sometimes grant adjoining owners and neighbours the same rights. In principle, these are carefully examined by the municipality (mayor *in = last instance) or the Vienna Building Authority in the course of the authorisation procedure. Nevertheless, residents and neighbours have the opportunity to raise objections to a neighbouring building project first in writing and, at the latest, verbally during the construction hearing.Justified objections would be, for example:

• The height of the building
• Distance to the property boundaries
• The usability of the property in terms of area
• Maintenance of the alignment lines
• Protection from immissions

No neighbouring rights are, however, for example:

• Diminution in the value of one's own property
• Observation of the townscape
• Free view
• Construction noise
• Aesthetics
• Static and fire protection

In most cases, objections are raised on the basis of subjective perceptions that are irrelevant from a legal perspective but delay the construction project in order to assert personal interests.If the objections are rejected by the last instance, the only option is to go to the administrative court, where a reform of neighbouring rights is urgently needed as the current regulations encourage abuse.