Along with the house, you bought a garden that someone else laid out. You don't know what will come up in the beds in spring, where water collects after heavy rain or which cable runs to the garden shed. This article is for exactly that situation: an existing garden and a new owner. It helps you decide what to tackle right away and what can wait, how to assess what is already there and where to look more closely in the first months.
The order in which a makeover is done is covered in Redesigning your garden: step by step. What it costs is covered in How much does garden design cost?. If you have built a new house and are looking at bare soil, Creating a garden for a new build is the better fit.
At a glance
- Right away: anything that is dangerous or damages the house. That includes water features if small children are around, damaged trees, trip hazards and rainwater against the house wall.
- In the first year: observe, collect documents, plan. What a garden holds only shows over the seasons.
- Before felling and clearing: check the tree protection bylaw and the closed season for hedges.
- Don't break up old building materials yourself: corrugated sheets, tar paper and old railway sleepers can contain pollutants.
- House first, garden second: if work on the house is still planned, build the garden afterwards.
1. Start straight away or watch for a year first?
You don't get to know an inherited garden at the viewing. What looks like an empty bed in winter can be full of bulbs in April and full of perennials in June. A tree that casts hardly any shade in March may shade half the terrace in summer. And where the ground stays wet, you only notice after a week of rain. The British Royal Horticultural Society therefore advises watching a new garden for a while and seeing how it works through the year before you decide how much to change.
What speaks for waiting:
- You see what is in the beds before you dig them over.
- You get to know sun and shade over the year and notice where you like to sit.
- You recognise wet spots, wind and where the neighbours can see in.
- Your budget can recover after the purchase.
What should not wait:
- anything dangerous (section 2),
- water running towards the house,
- routine care. If you don't mow or weed for a year, what you end up observing is mainly weeds.
A tip for the first year: Photograph the garden from three or four fixed spots, for example from the terrace, from the kitchen window and from the far end, and do it in every season. Later you can see where something flowers in spring, where shade falls in summer and where the leaves end up in autumn.
Special case: work on the house is still to come. If the roof, the facade, an extension or new utility connections are planned, wait with the garden until that work is finished. Scaffolding, skips and vehicles need space. Whatever you plant or build before will be driven over or dug up again. Route the site access so that trees you want to keep are outside it.
So the first year is not lost time. You observe, collect documents and plan. Building starts once the plan is in place.
2. What needs doing right away: safety and water
Water and small children. Pond, water basin, pool, water butt or an open shaft: small children can drown in just a few centimetres of water, as the German lifesaving association DLRG and the German child safety association BAG Mehr Sicherheit für Kinder point out. If small children live with you or visit often, secure water features straight away. You can cover them, fence them off or empty them for the time being. Water butts get a firm lid. Also check the covers of cisterns, wells and shafts. They should sit firmly, and a child must not be able to lift them.
Trees. In Germany, as the owner you are responsible for making sure your trees don't endanger anyone, whether on the pavement, next door or in your own garden. This is the duty of care under § 823 of the German Civil Code (BGB). In its guidance for tree owners, the City of Cologne recommends a visual check from the ground, every one to two years depending on condition, looking at each tree from all sides. As warning signs it lists, among others, a strong lean, cracks in the trunk, branches or forks, and cracks or raised soil around the trunk. Large dead branches in the crown belong on that list too. If you are unsure, have a tree surgeon look at the tree. Even when it is urgent, the municipal tree protection bylaw applies to protected trees. In Cologne, for example, work against an immediate danger does not need to be applied for in advance. It must, however, be reported in writing straight away and documented with photos.
Rainwater at the house. After heavy rain, look at where the water runs. Warning signs are puddles against the house wall, a terrace that slopes towards the house, downpipes that end in mid-air or right at the wall, and blocked drains. Anything wrong here goes to the top of the list, because it can damage the house.
Trip hazards. Mark or block off loose or tilted slabs, wobbly steps and timber decks or steps that give way until they are repaired.
Electricity in the garden. Outdoor sockets, lights, a pond pump, the cable to the garden shed: you don't know who installed them or how. For new installations, the German standard DIN VDE 0100-410 has required a residual current device (30 mA) for sockets and for outdoor circuits since February 2009. Older installations don't necessarily have one. So have the garden installation checked by an electrician before you use or extend it. In Germany, work on the electrical installation behind the house connection may only be carried out by the grid operator or a registered electrical contractor anyway (§ 13 NAV).
Poisonous plants if there are children in the house. Truly highly poisonous plants are rare, but some grow in gardens. For gardens and parks, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) names, among others, laburnum, monkshood, autumn crocus and angel's trumpet. Find out what grows in your garden before the children play there. The BfR brochure "Risiko Pflanze" helps with the assessment. You don't have to remove everything. Often it is enough to set up play areas where such plants don't grow.
3. What you learn from documents
Much of what you can't see in the garden is in documents, or the previous owner knows it.
- Ask the previous owner. Where are the water, electricity and gas lines? Is there a drainage system, a cistern, a soakaway or an old tank? What comes up in the beds in spring? Where does water collect after rain? Do they have plans of the house with the outdoor areas, or photos of the garden in summer?
- Land register. In Germany, section II of the land register lists the rights of others over your plot, such as a right of way or a right to run a pipe. If, for example, a neighbour's pipe runs through your garden, that can limit where you build or plant deeply. What exactly applies is in the entry. You can get an extract from the land registry, and you often already have one from the purchase.
- Register of building encumbrances. In every German state except Bavaria, the building authority keeps a register of building encumbrances (Baulastenverzeichnis). A Baulast is an obligation under public law that also binds you as the new owner, for example an access route for the neighbouring plot. As the owner you can inspect the register.
- Local development plan and municipal bylaws. They can contain rules for the garden, for example on trees that must be kept or on gravel areas. In Baden-Württemberg, gravel gardens have been generally not permitted since 2020. Ask your municipality which plan applies to your plot and whether there is a tree protection bylaw.
- Utility information. Before you dig, ask the network operator about the position and depth of lines. There is more on this in Redesigning your garden: step by step.
4. Assessing what is there: what stays, what goes
A detailed checklist for taking stock is in the article Redesigning your garden. For a garden you didn't lay out yourself, these points matter most.
Trees. A large, healthy tree is often the most valuable thing in an old garden. A newly planted one takes decades to get there. Before you fell one, check whether it falls under your municipality's tree protection bylaw. In Berlin, for example, deciduous trees with a trunk circumference of 80 cm or more, measured at a height of 1.30 m, are protected. There you need a permit to fell them. Other places have other thresholds or no bylaw at all. What a permit can cost and what replacement planting can be required is covered in Redesigning your garden: what remodelling an existing garden costs.
Hedges. An old hedge gives privacy from day one. In Germany, from 1 March to 30 September the Federal Nature Conservation Act prohibits clearing hedges and shrubs or cutting them back hard. Gentle shaping and maintenance cuts are allowed (§ 39(5) BNatSchG). You may not destroy nests or other breeding sites of protected animals at any time of year (§ 44 BNatSchG). If you move in in spring, clearing is therefore possible in October at the earliest. If the hedge separates your plot from the neighbour's, it is presumed to be a shared boundary feature (§ 921 BGB). You may then not remove or change it without the neighbour's consent as long as they have an interest in it (§ 922 BGB). So talk to them first.
Terrace, paths and walls. Check whether the terrace slopes away from the house, whether slabs are loose, cracked or sunken, and whether walls have cracks or are leaning. What is in good condition can stay, even if it isn't to your taste. A new surface can sometimes be laid on a sound old sub-base. Whether that works is checked on site by a contractor. What you save by keeping things is covered in the section "What stays saves money" in Redesigning your garden: what remodelling an existing garden costs.
Beds and lawn. With the beds, it is best to wait until you know what is in them. Over the year, mark the plants you want to keep, for example with sticks. Keep mowing the lawn in the meantime. Whether it stays, you decide with the plan.
5. Old building materials: asbestos, tar paper, railway sleepers
Older gardens sometimes contain building materials that may no longer be used today. They are no reason to panic as long as they stay undamaged. They become a problem when you break, saw or demolish them.
- Asbestos. Manufacturing and using asbestos has been banned in Germany since 1993. Older corrugated sheets on a garden shed, garage or carport, facade panels and planters made of fibre cement can contain asbestos. The environmental office of the City of Nuremberg strongly advises against removing such parts yourself. Don't break, saw or drill them; ask your waste disposal company or a specialist contractor instead.
- Tar paper. According to the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, roofing felt on summer houses, sheds and garages was soaked in coal tar until the early 1970s. It contains high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). As waste, tar-containing roofing felt counts as hazardous waste. It often lies under more recent layers of bitumen and can't be recognised from outside. Bitumen felts containing asbestos also existed. So for an old shed roof, ask your waste disposal company before demolition.
- Railway sleepers. Old timber sleepers were impregnated with coal tar oil and contain PAHs, including the carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene. According to the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, wood treated this way is banned inside buildings, in toys and on playgrounds. The same applies outdoors where it serves leisure and recreation and frequent skin contact is likely. If sleepers serve as bed edging, steps or slope supports where children play or where you sit, they should go. Handle them only with gloves, never burn them in a stove or fire bowl, and hand them in through your municipality as contaminated waste wood.
What disposing of such materials costs is shown in the fee table in Redesigning your garden: what remodelling an existing garden costs.
6. Budget after the purchase
After buying a house, money is often tight: purchase costs, the move and renovation come first. The garden can be built in stages quite well if the order is right.
- First comes anything that is dangerous or damages the house (section 2).
- Next comes what can later only be changed by tearing it out: levels and falls, cables and ducts, the position and sub-base of the terrace and main path.
- Later come plants, furniture and lighting on ducts laid in advance.
Still, plan the whole garden before you build the first stage. Otherwise the path from year one won't fit the terrace from year three. There is more on this in the section "Redesigning in stages" in Redesigning your garden.
What it costs: We deliberately don't give a flat price per square metre here. The price depends on what is built, what is demolished and what is kept. Example calculations with sources for terrace, lawn and beds are in How much does garden design cost?. Removal, disposal and a contingency for surprises in the ground can be worked out with Redesigning your garden: what remodelling an existing garden costs. In someone else's garden this contingency matters even more, because you don't know what lies under slabs and lawn.
Tax: In Germany, for work done by a contractor in your household you can deduct 20% of the labour costs from your income tax, up to €1,200 a year (§ 35a EStG). Materials don't count, and you must pay by bank transfer. According to the tax authorities, a house you have bought already belongs to your household before you move in, provided you actually move there. The decisive date is generally the transfer of benefits and burdens. Work as part of a new build does not qualify. This is an overview, not tax advice. In individual cases, the tax office decides.
7. The order for the first months
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Right away | secure water, look at trees, block trip hazards, have electrics checked |
| First weeks | ask the previous owner, collect documents, photos from fixed spots |
| First year | observe, maintain, plan, ask the municipality |
| October to February | clear and cut hedges hard, if needed |
| After that | build in stages, first levels, cables and terrace, then plants |
Example: the old tree stays
The following image is an AI visualisation by GardenPilot, not a built garden. It shows a design idea.
- Starting point (assumed): a garden behind a house with a garage. A large, multi-stemmed tree stands in the middle, surrounded by lawn.
- Key decision: The tree stays and becomes the centre of the garden. Around it lies a round lawn with stone edging. Next to it is a natural stone terrace with a fire bowl and a curved bench. Around the outside run perennial beds, a gravel path and a narrow water rill.
- Transferable principle: Plan around what stays instead of replacing it. A tree that is already there gives the new garden height and shade from day one.
- Limitations: In the image the terrace reaches under the crown. With a real old tree that would be risky. Under the German standard for protecting trees on construction sites (DIN 18920), the root zone is the area under the crown plus 1.50 m. No digging or filling should happen there, and paving needs a sub-base that means excavation. So the terrace belongs further away from the trunk. The open water rill is a danger with small children.
- Simpler version: The tree stays, and so does the lawn beneath it. A bench stands at the edge of the crown, beds lie on the outside. You do without the water rill.
See variants before you remove anything
After buying a house, the hardest question is often what should go: the hedge, the tree, the old terrace? With GardenPilot you upload a photo of your garden as it is today, choose a theme world and add what matters to you, for example "keep the hedge and the apple tree, bigger terrace". The first image is free, with no payment details. Every further variant, for example one without the hedge, costs 1 credit. That way you can put both side by side before anything is felled or demolished. The images are visualisations, not construction plans. GardenPilot doesn't check trees, cables or pollutants and doesn't sort out permits. How it works is explained in AI garden design with a photo.
What should stay, what should go? Upload a photo of your new garden and look at variants before you remove anything. The first image is free. Start free with your photo
Frequently asked questions
Should I wait a year after buying a house before redesigning the garden?
If nothing is urgent, it pays off. Over the year you see what is in the beds, where sun and shade fall and where the ground stays wet. What should not wait are things that are dangerous or damage the house, such as unsecured water features, damaged trees or rainwater against the house wall. And if work on the house is still under way, the garden comes afterwards.
Can I fell trees and remove hedges in my new garden?
In Germany, trees only if they don't fall under your municipality's tree protection bylaw, or with a permit. You may not clear hedges and shrubs or cut them back hard from 1 March to 30 September; gentle maintenance cuts are allowed. If the hedge is on the boundary, talk to your neighbour first.
What do I need to do in the garden right after buying a house?
Secure water features if small children are around, look at trees for visible damage, block off loose slabs and rotten steps, and have the garden electrics checked. Also check after heavy rain whether water runs towards the house.
Can I deduct garden work after buying a house from my taxes?
In Germany, for work done by a contractor in your household you can deduct 20% of the labour costs, up to €1,200 a year (§ 35a EStG). According to the tax authorities, a house you have bought counts if you actually move there. Materials don't count, and work as part of a new build is excluded. In individual cases, the tax office decides.
Further reading
What would this look like in your garden?
Upload a photo of your garden and see design ideas on your own space. The first image is free.
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