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Comment by ejb999 | Hacker News Reader

which part can't you do? Just the fence? or did you mean something else?

Is it really true that nobody in Germany is allowed to fence their property?

No, you're allowed to fence your property if you're talking about a lot with a house on it. But if it's a piece of forest you can't. Even if you privately own it, access must be guaranteed for the public.

Oh, and you're not allowed to build any cabins either, even if you own that piece of forest.

However, I'm not certain that that's the case everywhere in Germany or only in some states.

California has some strict laws about beach access for everyone and you still see beach-side homeowners trying to fence off the public's access to the beach or putting up illegal signs that say "Private Property, No Beach Access" or something like that

What’s the difference between a house on a ‘wooded’ lot and a cabin in a forest? Seems an artificial distinction.

It is mainly artificial. A bit like the zoning codes in the US I think.

There is property where you can build a proper house and live there (requirement is, that there is infrastructure, like water and electricity). Then there are gardens, where maybe a small cabin is allowed (but you may not officially live there). And then there is everything else, where you normally cannot build anything.

I don't think there are any wooded lots in Germany, at least not in the way you're thinking. If your lot is at least a quarter acre big and some 30 feet wide, it counts as a forest.

So you can’t build a house on a lot that’s over a quarter of an acre?

Not if it has trees on it (I mean not just a couple, the way forests usually look).

A quarter of an acre of trees is a "forest"? Whoa. As someone who grew up amidst a thousand miles of trees, I shall be laughing for a week to myself over such an idea.

Of course, your typical forest is bigger than that even in Germany. This is the minimum size a piece of land with trees on it has to have to be considered a forest by law.

Moreover because most of Germany’s “forests” are man-made… are they not mostly “wooded lots”? The distinction maybe arises from green space preservation policies?

Wow. I guess if you always lived there, you accept it as normal, but being from USA that is hard to relate to.

Of course you find the way things are where you grow up to be the norm.

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