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Declaration Prealable


tegwini
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Declaration Prealable

Can anyone give me some advice based on their experience of submitting one of these (not a link to a French Gov'ment site please!)

I have just returned from visiting a French  teacher friend living & working in the UK & she had to check some of the words in her giant dictionary.

We plan 2 velux windows at the back of the house, we think we are in a conservation area & going thro' the pages of this form, much, she says, does not apply.  But, I am nervous to send the forms off with too many blank spaces & wonder if  my French  is up to it to discuss this on the phone.  I am in the UK at present & will only be in France June/July when we hoped to have the windows fitted.

Some questions :   How many copies did you submit ?  Did you have a drawing of the actual window? & how they will fit into the roof, & how did you list what the window was ?   I originally believed that only a photo of the house & where the windows would go.

Lots of confusion here PLEASE is there anyone out there who has managed to get some velux installed/ or coped with these forms?

Many thanks

tegwini

 

 

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We did ours on the old-style déclaration de travaux.

We supplied pictures of before and after shots, the two shots being identical except for the addition of some grey squares (added with Photoshop) to represent the Velux windows on the roof.

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Last Friday we submitted a declaration prealable. After struggling with the form for about a week and filling in the bits I could understand, we took the form to the Marie's office and asked his secretary to check it for us. She was very helpful and photocopied plans etc for us. For the changes we wanted (new bigger french windows, a small extension etc...) all we did was take pictures of the outside of the house (this was the before version) then on a copy of the same pictures the new window/door openings etc were drawn in red ink roughly where we wanted them to be. All was goo with this. The other thing we wanted was to demolish the garage (which is about to fall down anyway) and replace it with a bigger one. I had put this on the form, but she crossed it out as she said we needed the other planing consent form for this. But---- we decided to forget the garage, rather than me having to bring this form home, translate it and try to work out what to fill in. This Monday, we had a call from her asking us to bring her a picture of the garage before and after. Our French being diabolical, we were not sure what she wanted this for, but arranged to take these pictures to her today at 10.00.

When we got there she had arranged for a man from the DDE to be present. We showed him the pictures, he nodded, and proceeded to fill in the construction form for us. All I did was sign my name when he was done. By the way he crossed out 90% of the questions.

I think the moral is, don't worry, go ask at the marie's office. Take pictures before/after to explain what you want and everyone is really helpful. When the forms are done they give you a receipt and then wait and see.... Good Luck

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Yes, I have recently installed velux windows front and back in an ancient house in a site inscrit.

The particular concerns in my area were:

A photographic record of the roofs in their 'before' state. (I also included other street-level photographs to indicate the negligeable visual impact of the alteration).

A 'plan' giving an indication of where the lights were to be inserted. I supplied plans in all three dimensions (as asked for), which I did myself, and with a moderate attempt at accuracy. A neighbour with a similar project merely submitted a reasonably informative sketch, and this was accepted.

A clear indication of the dimensions of the window. I did not make this clear enough on mine, and had my forms returned. (But since this meant no more than a 30 second walk for the garde champêtre, who waited whilst I wrote it larger, this was not too grave.)

A concern that the velux windows should be placed symmetrically with the extant fenestration.

No, they did not want a picture of the window itself, and yes, much of the form is irrelevant.

Addendum:  The question will naturally arise as to whether your work is going to add to the rateable value of the property, viz by increasing the habitable floorspace. This may need to be handled with some circumspection.

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[quote user="tegwini"]

Declaration Prealable

Can anyone give me some advice based on their experience of submitting one of these (not a link to a French Gov'ment site please!)

&nyone out there who has managed to get some velux installed/ or coped with these forms?

Many thanks

tegwini

[/quote]

I understand that you want first habd experience rather than paperwork, and I  agree with you that this is the best way to go.

I have been in France a very long time and am often amused by the sterile debates between who quote from different Internet sources (often English ones that quote old errors without checking)

On the other hand it's important to undersand that everything in France has a 'texte' associated, and if you have it to hand to quote you can sometimes win your case in a disagreement.

Equally, if you haven't consulted it, you can be hoodwinked.

So I, for one,  try to give a link to th appropriate French site

In any case it's a good idea to try to master the French terms..

You can do this by comparing the original with a translated version via one of the translation sites such as

http://www.reverso.net/text_translation.asp?lang=EN

or for web sites

http://www.online-translator.com/srvurl.asp?lang=en

(be careful to choose the right pair of languges on the pop-down menu)

I have fitted velux and other windows, but it was before the mass influx of the English, so in those days it was just a question of having a word with the neighbours!  Now everything has become much tighter.

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