Zoning in Austria: what can be built next door?

What may be built next to your flat is set by the municipality's zoning plan, the Flächenwidmungsplan. It puts every plot into building land, green land or traffic land. How tall and how dense buildings may be is set by the development plan, the Bebauungsplan. Both are public: you can look them up for any address before you rent or buy.

Who makes the plan

In Austria, spatial planning is up to the nine federal states, and each has its own planning law. The zoning plan itself is drawn up by the municipality and adopted by its council. Outside Vienna, the state government then has to approve it. That's why the categories have slightly different names from state to state, but they follow the same pattern everywhere.

The three kinds of zoning

• Building land (Bauland): building is allowed. It's divided further, for example into residential, core, commercial or industrial areas. The subtype says what may go up there: no factory in a residential area, but a warehouse in a commercial one.
• Green land (Grünland): generally no building, except for farming and forestry. Fields, forest, parks, sports grounds and cemeteries are green land.
• Traffic land (Verkehrsflächen): roads, paths, railways and car parks.

What matters most is the zoning around the address. If the plot across the road is building land and still empty, it will be built on sooner or later. If a commercial area borders the residential one, expect noise and delivery traffic.

How tall: the development plan

The development plan sets how building land is built on: how tall, how dense, whether buildings join up or stand apart, and where the building line runs. In Vienna, the zoning and development plans are one plan, and the height is given as a building class (Bauklasse):

• Class I: up to 9 metres
• Class II: up to 12 metres
• Class III: 9 to 16 metres
• Class IV: 12 to 21 metres
• Class V: 16 to 26 metres
• Class VI: over 26 metres

A plot in class V opposite a second-floor flat means a building with seven or eight storeys may go up there.

Where to find the plan for an address

Every federal state shows its plans in its own map portal: Vienna on the city map with the zoning and development plan, Lower Austria in the NÖ Atlas, Upper Austria in DORIS, Salzburg in SAGIS, Tyrol in tiris, Styria in GIS Steiermark and Carinthia in KAGIS. The legally binding version is the one held at the municipal office, where you can also ask whether a change is planned.

The quicker way is Wohnprobe: the report on an address shows the zoning of the plots around it on the map.

How rezoning works

Zoning isn't permanent. When a municipality wants to change it:

1. The municipality drafts the change.
2. The draft goes on public display for several weeks, in Vienna for six.
3. During that time, anyone can submit a written comment.
4. The council adopts the change; outside Vienna, the state then approves it.

If you live in an area or plan to buy there, follow the municipality's public notices: that's where the displays are announced.

What neighbours can say about a building project

If a plot already has the right zoning, the developer still needs a building permit. Neighbours have a limited say in that procedure: they can rely on rules that also protect them, such as distances and building height. Not liking the new building, or losing the view, isn't a valid objection. What may be built is decided at the zoning stage, not when the permit is applied for.