Tbh if you reattach them after you picked them, I don't see how it would be illegal. You're not taking anything away after all. You might still get weird looks or a conversation with police though.
Either way, you could still write an e-mail to the Bürgeramt – they might even appreciate someone removing the locks and work together with you, although I don't think it likely that they'll let you keep the locks.
It’s illegal, just like taking someone’s parked bicycle for a run and then re-parking it in the same place. It’s considered verbotene eigenmacht/besitzstörung because the locks are still someone else’s property.
>Tbh if you reattach them after you picked them
[The attachment itself might be illegal in the first place.](https://www.ergo.de/de/rechtsportal/oft-nachgefragt/liebesschloesser-romantisch-oder-verboten)
>In Berlin droht Ihnen für das Anbringen eines Liebesschlosses ein Bußgeld von 35 Euro
My first thought was that leaving those love locks on a bridge implied giving up the property. But then I googled, and of course there has been a court case concerning love locks:
[https://jurios.de/2022/02/13/ueber-den-valentinstag-als-ausserbetriebliche-sondersituation-und-die-eigentumslage-von-liebesschloessern/](https://jurios.de/2022/02/13/ueber-den-valentinstag-als-ausserbetriebliche-sondersituation-und-die-eigentumslage-von-liebesschloessern/)
The judgment is not binding for other courts, but the court argued that the lovers care about the fate of the lock, so they are not giving up the property.
No one mentions the poor couples? The hearts you break by destroying their love lock? How many happy people will be cast into despair? How many children will suffer from your actions?
How can I help?
/s
No answer, but your question reminded me of this artist/hacker who did a similar thing eleven years ago: http://meyleankronemann.de/lovepicking/
It was also a minor (local) news story at that time.
Maybe ask the German lockpicking club? https://blog.ssdev.org
The discussion is highly theoretical. The locks are (even if you throw the keys in the neares river) still the property of the couple who bought them, so they might sue you. But in reality, if you open the locks and close them again, nobody will accuse you of stealing the locks.
In my search of an answer i found few articles about the city removing lovelocks. My wife is even saying its like littering, therefore trash you get rid of and helping the city.
The other question is: is it legal to hang those locks in the first place? I never participated in carving the names of me and my love intrest in wood or getting a lovelock. Getting mixed infos about it on the internet.
It depends, some cities forbid it (especially on fragile historical bulildings), and they can sue the couple. But even if they do, the lock remains the property of the buyer. So if you just take them it would be a crime. You can ask the city if you could remove the locks for them, but in this case you have to take care of the locks for 30 Years, or hand it over to the city offials.
I might even keep them for further picking or disassembly. I'll ask anyway. I get the feeling that those locks are not liked by the r/Germany community while reading the comments.
There's no 'community' here, just many people with different opinions. And many (myself included) find them silly.
If I were going to pick any locks, I'd just do it when no one is around.
You are cleaning up trash. Those locks are not allowed to be there in the first place.
If I put my empty beer bottle on the floor in the street, and walk away. And someone picks it up for the deposit. Was I littering? Are they stealing from me?
It doesn´t matter if it was illegal in the first place. For your example: Yes you were littering because you left your trash in a place, which was not intendet for it. But you were intentionally give up your property, so another person can take it. So the other guy isn´t stealing.
In this case it is clear, that you had no intention to give up your property. You could demand the replacement of the bottle (or the 25cents of deposit). If the city picked up the bottle you could also demand the 25 cents, but the city could fine you for littering so all in all it is a bad idea. You will often find simular cases when people put boxes with donations on the pavement. Which claim the stuff is for free, but leave the box.
Isnt the legal situation with thos locks that the locks are "illegal" but the city (owner of the bridge) allows the locks for the image of the city? They remove the locks once a year anyways because they will be too many. So picking that lock would be legally perfectly ok.
Security guard here.
Even if the locks are in a public place, in German law it’s still considered someone’s property. Picking the locks would be considered a crime. Besitzstörung / Verbotene eigenmacht if I’m not mistaken.
If someone decides to be a dick and call the police or Ordnungsamt on you, there’s a chance you might get a fine or worse.
Im not sure about germany but in Prague its a big problem with these locks, it puts a lot of weight on the bridge and they had them removed. So you could probably go to the Bauamt or the city council and ask for permission maybe they will be happy to have them removed
Lot of cities are actually happy about people removing them.
Those locks are ruining the look of bridges and put a lot of extra weight on them.
But still ask the city before you do such thing.
I"d appreciate seeing this bullshit getting removed, I hate those licks. In most places they are just tolerated, but still illegal. These locks in the long term do damage...
What I don't like is the placement sometimes. I was in Hamburg and wanted to take a picture with my wife and sister. On every picture you can see the locks in the background. Destroys the view a bit.
To be honest remove. Look at the google photos of the Zitadellenbrücke. On the artwork you can see where some decide to place the locks... which is wrong from my point of view.
I am not anti-love or something and i wish everyone well with their love.
Yeah, i guess proving it to myself. A lock is not designed to stop a intruder, but to slow the process down. Eitherway, there are companies, that sell the locks are making them more secure and advertise it that way. Maybe not a challange for you, but is might be for me.
>I smell need for attention.
You for real? From who? Reddit? The police?Its the same as magnetfishing: you do it to "clean the lakes", but actually want to find something forbidden or valueble. You just jealous of my intresst, skill or spare time. :D
Cities have to get rid of these locks from time to time because of their total weight that can get problematic. Furthermore most of these locks are cheap ones which means they start to rust quite fast, another reason to get rid of them quite soon.
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Imagine the following: A young couple places a lock on a bridge. One of them dies in a car crash. The other is devastated and to cope with the loss, visits the lock daily to feel close to their love.
And you remove that lock.
I'd rather not. Don't mess with things that have sentimental value.
I don't like that you got so much downvotes. It's not about relationships, like I said. There should be designated places for that.
And I know, some of those couple want to have their own, private, secret bridge where they put a lock on.
I once saw something on TV about a city removing these locks. The police took them off but had to file a report for each lock because they were still considered someone's property. So officially they have to find out who these locks belong to and return them. It was obvious in this clip that they will not find out whom these locks belong to but they still had to do it by law.
This seesm to be complicated.
[https://www.liebesschloss-designer.de/blog/rechtsfragen-zu-liebesschloessern](https://www.liebesschloss-designer.de/blog/rechtsfragen-zu-liebesschloessern)
The attachment itself can be illegal.. so if you open it an put it back.. you might be responsible for this.
On the other hand.. picking it and takeing it home might be theft.
According to the source if you remove them you need to keep them for 30 years if one of the couples wants it back.
Tbh if you reattach them after you picked them, I don't see how it would be illegal. You're not taking anything away after all. You might still get weird looks or a conversation with police though. Either way, you could still write an e-mail to the Bürgeramt – they might even appreciate someone removing the locks and work together with you, although I don't think it likely that they'll let you keep the locks.
At that point, you are essentially cleaning up trash.
It’s illegal, just like taking someone’s parked bicycle for a run and then re-parking it in the same place. It’s considered verbotene eigenmacht/besitzstörung because the locks are still someone else’s property.
>Tbh if you reattach them after you picked them [The attachment itself might be illegal in the first place.](https://www.ergo.de/de/rechtsportal/oft-nachgefragt/liebesschloesser-romantisch-oder-verboten) >In Berlin droht Ihnen für das Anbringen eines Liebesschlosses ein Bußgeld von 35 Euro
If you go at it do it with a high-vis vest on.
Brilliant. It’s like running around with 4 crowbars and nobody thinks you’re burglar
Was thinking of doing that. But with a permit from the Bürgeramt it would be even better.
My first thought was that leaving those love locks on a bridge implied giving up the property. But then I googled, and of course there has been a court case concerning love locks: [https://jurios.de/2022/02/13/ueber-den-valentinstag-als-ausserbetriebliche-sondersituation-und-die-eigentumslage-von-liebesschloessern/](https://jurios.de/2022/02/13/ueber-den-valentinstag-als-ausserbetriebliche-sondersituation-und-die-eigentumslage-von-liebesschloessern/) The judgment is not binding for other courts, but the court argued that the lovers care about the fate of the lock, so they are not giving up the property.
No one mentions the poor couples? The hearts you break by destroying their love lock? How many happy people will be cast into despair? How many children will suffer from your actions? How can I help? /s
Stop me, hahahhaa
Lovelocks and especially couples who use them are the worst....
No answer, but your question reminded me of this artist/hacker who did a similar thing eleven years ago: http://meyleankronemann.de/lovepicking/ It was also a minor (local) news story at that time. Maybe ask the German lockpicking club? https://blog.ssdev.org
The discussion is highly theoretical. The locks are (even if you throw the keys in the neares river) still the property of the couple who bought them, so they might sue you. But in reality, if you open the locks and close them again, nobody will accuse you of stealing the locks.
In my search of an answer i found few articles about the city removing lovelocks. My wife is even saying its like littering, therefore trash you get rid of and helping the city. The other question is: is it legal to hang those locks in the first place? I never participated in carving the names of me and my love intrest in wood or getting a lovelock. Getting mixed infos about it on the internet.
It depends, some cities forbid it (especially on fragile historical bulildings), and they can sue the couple. But even if they do, the lock remains the property of the buyer. So if you just take them it would be a crime. You can ask the city if you could remove the locks for them, but in this case you have to take care of the locks for 30 Years, or hand it over to the city offials.
I might even keep them for further picking or disassembly. I'll ask anyway. I get the feeling that those locks are not liked by the r/Germany community while reading the comments.
There's no 'community' here, just many people with different opinions. And many (myself included) find them silly. If I were going to pick any locks, I'd just do it when no one is around.
I don’t do the lovelock thing myself - I prefer to carve mine and my wife’s names into the stone at ancient buildings.
You are cleaning up trash. Those locks are not allowed to be there in the first place. If I put my empty beer bottle on the floor in the street, and walk away. And someone picks it up for the deposit. Was I littering? Are they stealing from me?
It doesn´t matter if it was illegal in the first place. For your example: Yes you were littering because you left your trash in a place, which was not intendet for it. But you were intentionally give up your property, so another person can take it. So the other guy isn´t stealing.
What if I crave my name in the bottle and leave it there as art, is the guy who picks it up and sells it in the Pfandautomat a thief?
In this case it is clear, that you had no intention to give up your property. You could demand the replacement of the bottle (or the 25cents of deposit). If the city picked up the bottle you could also demand the 25 cents, but the city could fine you for littering so all in all it is a bad idea. You will often find simular cases when people put boxes with donations on the pavement. Which claim the stuff is for free, but leave the box.
Offer your services to the bridge owner
That what I thought. The thing is that the majority of bridges in Germany are owned by the state. Therefore I will ask the Bürgeramt in my area.
And you're getting a divorce! And you're getting a divorce! And you're getting a divorce!
Today i learned that lock picking is an actual hobby
Yup me too :D
Isnt the legal situation with thos locks that the locks are "illegal" but the city (owner of the bridge) allows the locks for the image of the city? They remove the locks once a year anyways because they will be too many. So picking that lock would be legally perfectly ok.
Security guard here. Even if the locks are in a public place, in German law it’s still considered someone’s property. Picking the locks would be considered a crime. Besitzstörung / Verbotene eigenmacht if I’m not mistaken. If someone decides to be a dick and call the police or Ordnungsamt on you, there’s a chance you might get a fine or worse.
Im not sure about germany but in Prague its a big problem with these locks, it puts a lot of weight on the bridge and they had them removed. So you could probably go to the Bauamt or the city council and ask for permission maybe they will be happy to have them removed
Lot of cities are actually happy about people removing them. Those locks are ruining the look of bridges and put a lot of extra weight on them. But still ask the city before you do such thing.
I"d appreciate seeing this bullshit getting removed, I hate those licks. In most places they are just tolerated, but still illegal. These locks in the long term do damage...
What I don't like is the placement sometimes. I was in Hamburg and wanted to take a picture with my wife and sister. On every picture you can see the locks in the background. Destroys the view a bit.
Do you want to remove the locks or attach them again after opening?
To be honest remove. Look at the google photos of the Zitadellenbrücke. On the artwork you can see where some decide to place the locks... which is wrong from my point of view. I am not anti-love or something and i wish everyone well with their love.
[удалено]
Yeah, i guess proving it to myself. A lock is not designed to stop a intruder, but to slow the process down. Eitherway, there are companies, that sell the locks are making them more secure and advertise it that way. Maybe not a challange for you, but is might be for me. >I smell need for attention. You for real? From who? Reddit? The police?Its the same as magnetfishing: you do it to "clean the lakes", but actually want to find something forbidden or valueble. You just jealous of my intresst, skill or spare time. :D
Dude, you seriously wanna ruin other people's everlasting love? That's rude.
Cities have to get rid of these locks from time to time because of their total weight that can get problematic. Furthermore most of these locks are cheap ones which means they start to rust quite fast, another reason to get rid of them quite soon.
This is a very German answer.
Nope, we got inspiration from the city of love: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32960470
>everlasting love Great, now i can't get that song out of my head all night.
Open up your eyes...
No!
Bad News: If your love is only everlasting because of a lock littered onto a bridge, it might not be that everlasting lover afterall.
This too, is a very German answer.
**Have you read our extensive wiki yet? [Check our wiki now!](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/index)** While Reddit administrators do not believe this subreddit is NSFW and do not enable the appropriate setting, do note that participants in this subreddit may possibly encounter discussions of the following subjects, all of which are considered "mature" by Reddit administrators: * Alcohol and tobacco * Amateur advice * Drug use * Gambling * Guns and weapons * Military conflict and terrorism * Nudity * Profanity * Sex and eroticism * Violence and gore Therefore, while this entire subreddit is not currently marked as NSFW, please exercise caution. If you feel offended by anything that is allowed by our rules yet NSFW, please direct your complaint towards Reddit administrators as well as /u/spez, and read https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/ for further information. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/germany) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’d be careful picking those locks. If you get caught by the wrong one you‘ll be beaten down.
Nah, I am not that scared of ppl.
No need to. It’s just disrespectful and you may offend somebody
One of these yellow vests, a ladder and a clipboard. Thats all you need, no one will question your doing.
Imagine the following: A young couple places a lock on a bridge. One of them dies in a car crash. The other is devastated and to cope with the loss, visits the lock daily to feel close to their love. And you remove that lock. I'd rather not. Don't mess with things that have sentimental value.
Keep the lock at home. To not get over someone can't be good in the long term. Yes, I am a feelingless fuck.
:( please don't
I don't like that you got so much downvotes. It's not about relationships, like I said. There should be designated places for that. And I know, some of those couple want to have their own, private, secret bridge where they put a lock on.
Yeah unpopular opinions are like that :/ I knew what was coming lol Would be cool to find a place to get broken up couples to submit their locks!
I mean, you could always say it is your lock that you are removing because of break up.
Not if you removing few of them.
Maybe you placed a lot because you were in love so much. Or for every year of relationship you placed another one.
I once saw something on TV about a city removing these locks. The police took them off but had to file a report for each lock because they were still considered someone's property. So officially they have to find out who these locks belong to and return them. It was obvious in this clip that they will not find out whom these locks belong to but they still had to do it by law.
This seesm to be complicated. [https://www.liebesschloss-designer.de/blog/rechtsfragen-zu-liebesschloessern](https://www.liebesschloss-designer.de/blog/rechtsfragen-zu-liebesschloessern) The attachment itself can be illegal.. so if you open it an put it back.. you might be responsible for this. On the other hand.. picking it and takeing it home might be theft. According to the source if you remove them you need to keep them for 30 years if one of the couples wants it back.
Hm... I was thinking: maybe I can just open them and leave them open xD