Building Code Requirements in Bayern

Bavaria’s building law is the Bayerische Bauordnung (BayBO), currently in force. Bavaria diverges from the Musterbauordnung model more than most Länder, on several figures a chippy actually uses.

Minimum room height (lichte Raumhöhe): 2.40 m where it applies, per Art. 45(1) BayBO — but Bavaria exempts an ordinary one- or two-family house (Gebäudeklasse 1 & 2) from any fixed minimum room height at all. In a roof space, the figure that does apply reduces to 2.20 m over at least half the room’s floor area.

Two other Bavaria-specific figures are confirmed. Boundary setbacks (Abstandsflächen): the default depth factor is 0.4 × wall height (minimum 3 m), since a 1 February 2021 reform — per Art. 6 BayBO. Some categories and larger cities apply different depths — confirm against Art. 6 BayBO directly. Permit-free garages: a garage up to 50 m² floor area (or 75 m³ if it has no habitable rooms, toilet or hearth) and up to 3 m wall height doesn’t need a building permit, per Art. 57 BayBO.

Guard/parapet (Umwehrung) height is the one figure Bavaria’s law doesn’t give a number for at all. Art. 36 BayBO only requires a guard be “ausreichend hoch und fest” — sufficiently high and sturdy — leaving the actual height to accepted technical rules rather than statute text. Confirm your builder’s guarding against current technical guidance, and check BayBO on gesetze-bayern.de for anything above before you rely on it.

Related

• German building rules hub — how the national DIN layer and the 16 Länder’s own building law fit together.
• Minimum room heights across Germany — why there’s no single national figure.
• German stair & guard rules — the DIN 18065 numbers plus the Land-by-Land guard-height picture.