Shall I apply for Permis de Demolir or let it fall down?

[cassie]

I purchased a 16th. century longere in E. Brittany with the intention of retiring there.

A quarter of it has been renovated and the rest is in a poor and dangerous state with holes in the wall and roof.

The local ( English) estate agent said we could, as was our intention, repair a further 25% and knock the rest down.

The architecte conseil came to have a look and said it was too beautiful to knock down.

We said that we did not have the money to repair it. She recommended putting a large bache (tarpaulin ) over it to preserve it. This seems pointless as we will NEVER have the cash to repair it!

As we are afraid that, when it falls down, it will destroy the section in which we are living we are now renovating an outbuilding with the idea of moving in there as soon as it is built.

We have sought advice as to what to do next from lots of people and all of it is conflicting!

We have NOT applied for official Permis de Demolir as, at the moment, we have nothing IN WRITING saying that we cannot knock it down.

Some say that , once its existence has officially been brought to people`s attention via the P de D. process, we can be FORCED into maintaining it at our expense...... which a) we cannot afford and b) the French have spent the last 400 years allowing it to deteriorate so why should WE pay.

Others say "let it fall down and then take the rubble away" but it is a massive structure and when it falls down the earth will shake and I may be in bed in an adjacent room !

Others say... we should be able to obtain a Permis as it is very dangerous.

Once it has collapsed it will cost a fortune to take the rubble away.

If it is demolished in a controlled manner, the sale of some of the special features, e.g. monster oak beams, large fireplaces and arched doorways will atl east preserve them for use elsewhere and should offset some of the cost of site clearance.

Any (sensible ) advice would be much appreciated.

[NickP]

I'm slightly confused,  you ask for sensible advice. But; you don't say if it's a listed building, i.e. are you within 500 metres of an historic monument, the architect said it's too beautiful to demolish, is that her opinion or a legal fact? So at the risk of not being sensible, if I didn't want the building and it's upkeep I would very secretly help it to fall over making sure not to damage any other buildings, or the bits that could be sold on, I then go to the authorities and report it has collapsed, simple! The worst case scenario is they could tell you to rebuild it which as you can't afford it will never happen.