Building an extension?
Have you paid a visit to you local mairie recently? Did you notice any smiles on the folk coming and going? Why should this be? Since when has visiting a fonctionnaire become a pleasurable experience? Well... probably since they published the revised local planning zones. Throughout France, the commune offices have received details of their new plans local d'urbanisme The friends and relations of those with influence at the marie might have discovered that some of their land has been reclassified as Zone Constructible. And then wouldn't you be smiling! At the stroke of a prefet's pen, that redundant pony paddock is no longer Zone Rurale. It has become valuable building plots for those new-build freaks from Chelmsford. Willing, as they are, to suffer a series of visits from a manic depressive T.V. presenter; and build their dream home in France.
Tant mieux you may think. Just as long as they don't start building near my petit bijoux. But if you have been improving your house in France in any way, you should take note of the new rules. Why? Because the planning regime for your property may have changed, which may affect you if the worst happens.
Say, for example, you have built an extension to your house. The size of this improvement would usually have been determined by the coefficient des occupation des sols. Which is the planning calculator which decides how large any extension can be within your planning zone. Now, it might be that this calculator has been revised under the new regulations and the calculator has been changed. ‘So what?' You might think. ‘My house has already been rebuilt!' But attention! If your new extension was destroyed by fire or flood, you would only be allowed to rebuild on the previous dimensions if the planning process for that work has been legally completed. In other words; that the planning authority has issued both the planning permission and the compliance certificate. Property owners in France are routinely familiar with the planning permission or works declaration, but the compliance certificate might get overlooked. This is called the certificat de conformité and is the legal confirmation from the planning authority that the works comply with the conditions of the planning permission.
These certificates are easy to obtain. You simply call the marie and ask for an inspection of the work. If your planning permission was obtained by an architect, who acted as a foreman for your building works, then it is likely that he would have obtained this certificate for you, but it would be a good idea to check.
Similarly if you are buying a property which has been recently improved, you should ensure that your legal advisor obtains a copy of all the planning documents relating to the works concerned. Unfortunately many notaries do not regard it as part of their responsibility to obtain such documents, unless they are specifically asked to do so. So buyers should make a specific request to him, or the seller or his estate agent to provide a dossier d'urbanisme complet relating to the property.
And there's another reason you should make sure that you obtain this certificat de conformité. If you are seeking to build onto a property that has already been improved (maybe inserting a dormer window into an improved outbuilding), you may not get permission to do so until you have proved that the legal process for the original build has been completed. And this of course means producing a certificat de conformité.
But if you have done none of these things and are thinking of building in the new zones in France, there are huge opportunities. Development land is a fraction of the cost in the U.K. and construction size possibilities are far more generous. And if it's a choice between squeezing a new house into the garden of a large Victorian house or on open land in the Tarn with sensational views... réfléchissez mes braves, Réfléchissez!
Philip Winter-Taylor
Tel: 01233 666968
Email wintertaylors@aol.com
Site Index links: