Boundary fences

[Helen]

The fence that divides our back garden from the neighbours came down in the wind last week.  There is no indication in any of the paperwork from when we bought the house last year of who is responsible for the boundary fence. (We haven't yet received the final paperwork.)

Is joint-responsibility the norm in France?  Or does the fact that the fenceposts are on their side of the fence indicate that technically it belongs to our neighbour, as it would in the UK?  Or vice versa? 

Not that we are unwilling to share the costs, of course, whatever the legal position! But it would just be helpful to have an idea of who is legally responsible for replacing it so that we know how to approach the conversation when we return to France next week.

Thanks

Helen

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

 

If you can read French here is probably more than you want to know about 'clotures' (boundary walls, fences etc.). They are links to short items in  http://www.travaux.com/ . You are likely to want

Quelles sont les distances ... -- 'What are the distances from the limit of your plot that you need to respect?'

and

En quoi consiste la mitoyenneté ... 'What does joint responsibility mean?' (similar to the party wall rules in England) Qu'est ce qu'une clôture?

and

En cas de contestation ... 'In case of disputes with your neighbour what recourse do you have?'

Quelles sont les règles à respecter avant d'installer une clôture ? Faut-il demander un permis de construire?

Existe-il des cas exclus de ce champ d'application ?

Quelles sont les obligations qu'un propriétaire peut se voir imposer dans un Plan d'Occupation des Sols (POS) ou un Plan Local d'Urbanisme (PLU) ? La hauteur des clôtures peut-elle être par exemple limitée ?

Existe-il des cas où la pose de clôture peut être limitée, voire des cas où la clôture est supprimée ?

L'Ile de France se distingue par sa forte pression au niveau de l'urbanisme. Les villes de la région font-elles l'objet de règles particulières ou appliquent-elles les mêmes règles que les autres communes de France ?

Une rangée de haies, d'arbres ou de plantations peut-elle constituer une clôture ?

Quelles sont les distances par rapport à la limite du terrain que le propriétaire doit respecter pour la pose de sa clôture ?

En quoi consiste la mitoyenneté d'une clôture et quelles sont les responsabilités qui en découlent ?

En cas de contestation avec un voisin quels sont les recours possibles ?

Quelles sont les conditions pour poser une clôture électrique ?

Quel est le coût d'installation d'une clôture ?

[Helen]

Thanks for that - fortunately I do read French and it was just what I needed.  In our situation, it confirms that co-ownership is presumed so the costs will be shared jointly.  Very interesting too to know about the distances that have to be allowed for planting near the boundary of the property, and the height limits for plants as I was about to plant alongside the fence anyway.

Helen

 

[Paul King]

Hello Helen,

Unfortunately we can't read French but we are very interested in your comments about planting near boundaries and height limits for plants - could you provide a short summary as currently we only have two posts 10m apart marking our boundary and were considering planting a hedge in between to make a defined fence.

Many thanks

Paul.

[mike151]

i think if plants are to be less than 2m tall then you can plant 0.5m from fence, if higher,then you must plant them 2m away. if next to a road or pylons then its different again, havn't fully understood that bit yet!

[Tony F Dordogne]

As I've said previously, I have the French hedge information, published in a French gardening magazine about hedges, and I'm happy to supply a copy of it (one page, .pdf, diagramatically explained also) to anybody that wants a copy - just send me a pm with your email address. 

[Patf]

The question was originally about the possible shared ownership and cost of a fence. ie mitoyenneté. Reading the quoted information above, it seems that shared ownership might just apply to a wall, and only in a town or faubourg. Or in this case the fence could belong to the neighbour.

[Helen]

Sorry not to have contributed to this thread for  a while.

There was more in the guidance on planting, including reference to planting adjacent to country lanes (where, as I recall, you can plant up to your boundary but there are rules about overhang and maintaining visibility) and other roads.  I don't have the time right now to go through it in more detail but could do if anyone would still find it helpful.  The point already made about up to two metres and over two metres was certainly part of it.

On the point about mitoyennete, the rules apply to "clotures", which are defined as party walls (subject to certain exceptions), and also fences, trellises and so on in a garden (but not hedges). What wasn't immediately clear to me was whether they only applied in a town or faubourg - the punctuation was a bit confusing and I thought you could interpret it both ways.  I also don't know how a faubourg is defined.  As I recall, and again, I don't have it in front of me at the moment, there were different rules for hedges  (which has led to energetic discussion in our household about the relative merits of fence + shrubs or just hedge - how sad is that!)

Helen