Description
As a rule, measures relating to monuments of building or soil or the movable monuments entered in the list of monuments are only permissible if the lower monument protection authority (counties, independent cities and large district towns) has granted permission for this in advance. The most important cases are listed below:
Monuments / movable monuments entered in the list of monuments.
For all measures by which a building monument is to be removed, altered or moved to another location, and for most measures relating to protected pieces of equipment, you need permission under the law on the protection of monuments. You also need such a permit if you want to erect, alter or remove installations in the vicinity of a listed building - but only if the measure you are planning may have an impact on the existence or appearance of the listed building.
A separate monument protection permit is not required if you need a building permit or an excavation supervisory permit for your project. In these cases, monument protection is "worked through" as part of the building permit process or the excavation supervisory permit process. Please note that you always need a permit under monument protection law for measures on monuments for which you do not need a building permit!
You have a legal claim to permission under monument protection law, provided that there are no weighty monument protection reasons for maintaining the previous condition unchanged. If, on the other hand, there are such reasons - and this is often the case - permission can be refused. Instead of refusing permission, the permitting authority can grant it subject to conditions or other ancillary provisions designed to ensure that a solution compatible with monument protection is implemented. This is a very common approach in practice. These principles also apply to projects on monuments requiring building permission.
Soil monuments
You need a permit under monument protection law if you want to excavate specifically for ground monuments. However, you must also obtain permission if you want to or have to carry out earthworks for other reasons that could have an impact on ground monuments. In this case, it is sufficient that you suspect or must assume under the circumstances that there are ground monuments on your property. This includes, above all, the case that you want to build on a property where ground monuments are located.
The monument protection authority can refuse permission in these cases, insofar as this is necessary to protect a ground monument. Here, too, there is the possibility of granting permission subject to conditions or other ancillary provisions. Some lower monument protection authorities have developed special forms for the monument protection permit procedure for their area. Your lower monument protection authority will be happy to advise you.
Deadlines
There are no deadlines and dates for the permission procedure under monument protection law. However, please note that permission must be granted if you want to start your measure. In addition, you should bear in mind that the measures required in the conditions or ancillary provisions may take time. Therefore, it is advisable to submit the permit application as early as possible. The point of contact is always the municipality, which will issue a statement on the application and then immediately forward it to the Lower Monument Protection Authority.