No-parking zone for your move in Leipzig

How far in advance you have to start

This is the most important figure on the page. The city of Leipzig reckons with around 14 official working days for processing — almost three weeks, because weekends do not count. After that the signs still have to stand at least four days before the moving date, so that others can move their cars in time.

Taken together that means: if you are moving in ten days, you are too late for the regular route. Sometimes it goes faster, but you should not rely on it. If the date is already fixed, the application is the first thing to deal with — before boxes and a van.

Who approves the zone and what it costs

The responsible unit is «Temporäre Verkehrsregelung» at the Mobilitäts- und Tiefbauamt, Technisches Rathaus on Prager Straße. You apply for a traffic order under § 45 StVO — the signed application can go by post, e-mail or fax. For the order the city charges an administrative fee from €32.

Worth knowing: the authority does not put up the signs. The permit is only permission to put them up; doing it is for the applicant or a firm they hire. And they have to be proper traffic signs under StVO: chairs, crates, buckets or barrier tape have no legal effect, and a car may still park there.

• Application under § 45 StVO to the Mobilitäts- und Tiefbauamt
• Administrative fee from €32 for the order
• Signs are put up by the applicant or a hired firm
• only approved traffic signs — not crates and chairs
• record the cars already parked when the signs go up

Why the photos matter when the signs go up

The city requires a record of which vehicles are already standing in the zone when the signs go up. The reason is simple: anyone who parked before the signs appeared could not have known about them — and cannot be towed at their own expense. Anyone who arrives afterwards can.

Without that record it is almost impossible to achieve anything on moving day. When we put the signs up we photograph every number plate in the zone, with date and time, and send you the pictures. That is not a formality but the only evidence you have.

If someone is parked there on the day anyway

It happens regularly. The first step is the city’s public order phone line: the Ordnungsamt duty desk sends traffic enforcement when someone is free. After that it is decided whether to tow — and that takes anything from half an hour to several hours, depending on the time of day.

In practice that is lost time, which on a move is charged by the hour. So we plan the zone a couple of metres longer and put the signs up sooner rather than later. It costs a few euros more and, in case of doubt, saves half a day.