abri du jardin

[Evianers]

Just received a registered letter from the Mairie. Our tenants have apparently erected an abri du jardin without permission. Immediately passed this news on to our agents, who are paid to sort out this kind of difficulty. But it subsequently occured to us that it probably contravenes their lease in that they should have asked permission from us, the owners, to make any alternations or amendments? Is that the case? Sorry, just back from holiday and no time to wade through legalities in French.

[GRT17]

Evianers, You have my sympathies.

 

What style of "abri" have they built and how permanent is it?

Gill

[Chas]

Whatever the ins and outs of your lease arrangements an abri du jardin requires a declaration de traveau, which is possibly why the mairie are getting involved.

[Nick Trollope]

I rather doubt if their failure to comply with local planning regs will give you an excuse to evict them, however. You are not having a lot of luck with these tenants, are you?

 

[Evianers]

Thank you, folks for your comforting words and support. No idea what sort of abri du jardin - we are awaiting news from the agents. That's one of the disadvantages of being an absentee landlord. We REALLY can't wait until we can retire into our own home ourselves. All part of life's rich pattern and BTW having just come back yesterday from a trip to South Africa where we used to live, this little hiccough is nothing compared to the problems there...... Have a good day all.

[Porth]

Please forgive me but what is an arbri du jardin.  Is it a type of pergola or structure within the garden a walkway constructed out of rustic timbers or whatever?

To learn more would be helpful for we are going to have a walkway out of rustic timbers constructed and roses wisterias etc going up them.

 

I may have the wrong end of the stick?

 

kind regards

[Will]

An abri de jardin is...... 

 

....a garden shed

[Porth]

Thanks Will we have one of those!

 

kind regards

[zeb]

So...........if you buy an abri du jardin from Castorama, you have to get planning permission first?

[Christopherlaws]

[quote]An abri de jardin is...... ....a garden shed[/quote]

Yes. An abri de jardin is a garden shed. But an abri du jardin is a conservatory (part of the house).

[Will]

Interesting, a conservatory is a 'véranda' in this part of France (or possibly a jardin d'hiver if it is used for plants). And yes, you are supposed to tell the mairie if you want to erect a garden shed or any other building, definitely required if it is new (i.e. doesn't replace a former garden building) or over a certain size.

[kenandsue<IMG src="http:forums.livingfrance.comimagesline.gif"><BR>kenandsue at 50<BR>]

I take it one of those little green plastic type sheds for putting tools etc in are OK, least I hope so!

[Washy]

We had problems with this a few years back.  An abri de jardin can be as large as a small wooden chalet.  We brought ours from the UK to house our extra furniture while we were renovating.  Someone in the village saw the furniture going in and suspected we were renting it out (!) At the same time we were also errecting a small shed for the generator, a 'rustic' lean to for the llama shelter and we had also placed a very small goat shelter in another field.  We were summoned to the Mairie to explain and were then told to complete 4 separate Declarations de travaux, with scale drawings and elevations, with copies of the plan cadastral showing the 'buildings' to scale,distances from boundaries etc.  We complied of course, but ended up joking with the mairie about the goat shelter which when drawn to scale was little more than a dot on the plan.

So we learnt that anything under one metre square and one metre 20 high does not need a declaration.  I hope things work out for you soon.

[edyth]

We've just moved to a recently built on the edge of the village with an adjacent parcelle of "non -constructible" land on which to have our garden. Lovely view over the vines to the south! We were assured by the vender and the estate agent that "non-constructible" meant you could not build anything with foundations but a shed or a greenhouse would be fine as they are not permanent and have no foundations.

We planned out the garden with a professional landscape gardner, as there is a lot of planting to do, and sited the shed and greenhouse near the end where the vegetable garden will be. He was going to erect the shed at the end of the month and we were getting quite excited about the garden taking shape.

By co-incidence I saw this thread and thought I had better fill in a "declaration de travaux" - I hadn't realised this would be necessary for a shed! Anyway far from being a formality I was informed that I could not construct anything on the "non-constructible" part. An abri de jardin and a greenhouse are constructions they said. Even a little metal shelter for tools is not allowed. I am so thankful that I saw this thread and went to the Mairie for a form. It would have been awful to have been told to take it down.

Now I will have to submit another request and have the shed and greenhouse at the entrance side of the house (the north side) which is the only place left on the constructible parcelle and is a long way from the vegetable plot. It's a bit of a setback as my husband is partially sighted and gardening is one of the few hobbies he can still enjoy but its not a disaster - we will have further to walk with the wheelbarrow that's all.

It just shows you cannot be too careful though!

[Tony F Dordogne]

Hi folks

We have a problem over this which just came up today.  We live in a village in 24, desginated a 'site protege' but we can't be seen from the village and our house and garden are about 10 metres above the chemin rural which runs by outside plus our currently overgrown hedge.

When we moved into our property we inherited three lean to(s), two of which were made of old timbers, plastic sheet and corrougated tin.  They were not only dangerous but leaked and we've had to demolish them so all our storage has gone.  The other lean to, with a solid concrete base, was built at the side of the house and has been demolished because it was so badly built it allowed water into the garage and one of our berooms.

We are replacing the lean to(s) with a proper chalet type shed, site moved about 20m from the previous ramshackled pair, and further back against the laurel hedge.

This morning we received a letter from the Marie  telling us that we need a declaration de traveaux before we can do any work in the garden or house.  We're happy to apply for same but need a bit more information:

What are the sizes allowed for garden sheds/chalets?

If the previous owners didn't get permission for their lean tos and shed (they had one in the wood that we bought) does that mean that we can't replace?

Would we need a declaration for the work we're having done to stop the house being flooded because of bad construction - the mayor knows about the flooding?

Would we need a declaration for the installation of a gas tank for the much needed central heating?

We're not changing the house at all, just the garden which can't be seen from the village or from the chemin rural which runs past the house but which is about 10 metres below our hedge line.

Sorry it's a bit of a shopping list but I need the information before I make an appointment to see the Mayor.

Regards

TonyF

[Nick Trollope]

Hi

This is my take on your situation;

What are the sizes allowed for garden sheds/chalets?

None specific. Which is why you are requesting a D de T. Under normal circumstances you can build up to 20m2 (total) without permission. However, if you are within 500M of a protected site (or historic monument, or chip shop, or whatever the hell "they" decide) then you must seek permission by way of a D de T.

If the previous owners didn't get permission for their lean tos and shed (they had one in the wood that we bought) does that mean that we can't replace?

The fact that they did not get permission shouldn't affect your application, however, as you now know that they needed permission, don't try to claim ignorance!

Would we need a declaration for the work we're having done to stop the house being flooded because of bad construction - the mayor knows about the flooding?

I doubt it, this is just remedial.

Would we need a declaration for the installation of a gas tank for the much needed central heating?

Yes

We're not changing the house at all, just the garden which can't be seen from the village or from the chemin rural which runs past the house but which is about 10 metres below our hedge line.

It doesn't matter. I suspect that, in your case at least, it is the location that is the deciding factor (we have much the same problem, because we are overlooked by the Church),

Declararation de Traveaux are not particularly onerous, in application terms at least. Just add plenty of annotated photos and drawings and explaination. I have discovered that the most important item appears to be a properly marked-up copy of the appropriate Cadastral plan (or plans) - I have had one D de T returned as "dossier incomplet" becuase the yellow highlighter line around the plot was not contiguous. The (very helpful) secretary in the Mairie completed the line (with her highlighter) and sent it back to the DDE with only 10 days wasted...

Just be prepared to wait. It will come good in the end.