Public building law comprises the legal provisions relating to the permissibility and implementation of a building project with regard to building planning law, building regulations law and ancillary building law. The task of public building law is to safeguard the interests of municipal planning sovereignty as well as public safety and order.

In addition to public building law, there is private building law, which serves to protect the private interests of those involved in the construction, such as neighbor law or contract law. Compliance with these regulations is not the responsibility of the building inspectorate, but is the responsibility of the neighbors or contractual partners involved.

The provisions of the Hessian Neighbor Law (NachbG) are also of a purely private law nature. Compliance with this law is therefore not the responsibility of the building inspectorate and is also not subject to the scope of inspection.