Eight Vejle allotment owners bring houses into compliance

Eight allotment owners in Vejle have brought their houses into compliance with the municipality, including one who had the building cut in half and another who had the entire house removed by truck, DR reports.

The eight owners have reduced their buildings to comply with Vejle Municipality’s rules. Six chose less radical solutions, while the house that was cut in half now consists of a legal house and a legal annex.

The cases come as around 100 allotment owners are suing the municipality, seeking to have the local plans for the area declared invalid. Many of the houses are larger than the new rules allow.

In most of the allotments, the house may be no larger than 50 square metres. Annexes, sheds and similar structures may occupy a combined 30 square metres.

“There are eight who have reduced their houses to 50 square metres, and they will receive a BBR notice stating that the matter has been legalised,” said Erik Junge Madsen, the municipality’s project manager for legalising construction in Vejle’s allotment gardens.

The municipality is also in talks with nine other owners who want to bring their houses into compliance. They are not necessarily the owners of the largest houses.

“We started with the allotment houses larger than 100 square metres and are working our way down the list, but some of those who have entered into dialogue with us had not yet reached that point,” Madsen said.

He said some owners might have decided to enter talks after seeing that the municipality was determined to enforce the 50-square-metre limit.

“Some may not have been able to sleep at night because of all the commotion surrounding this, and I can certainly understand that,” Madsen said.

He has also spoken to residents who openly acknowledged that they had built too much and knew it. “As one person said to me at one point: I enjoyed it for as long as I had it, and I was well aware that it was too much,” Madsen said.

DR contacted the owners of the house that was cut in half and the house that was removed. The first did not respond, while the second did not want to speak to DR. The board of Kolonisternes Haveforening, which is suing the municipality, also declined to comment on the eight cases.