Verandah, building permission required?

[Tilly]

Purchase completion due early November, fingers and toes crossed. One of the things we want to do before next summer is extend the terrace and cover with a verandah - either open and vine covered or tiled roof, not quite sure yet.

Does anyone know if we will we need planning permission for this type of work?

Also, shutters brown at present, can we paint them a different colour, or do we need permission for this? Have notice all the shutters on the other houses in the hamlet are brown too, so perhaps we can't change them?

Any advice on this appreciated.

Tilly

[pachapapa]

Depends somewhat on the areas involved.

[idun]

You need to ask at your Mairie about both these things.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Just be careful what you say to the mairie or the DDE. A verandah in French is what I'd call a conservatory in English: a glass-walled room. That would immediately require different treatment from an open-sided structure similar to a balcony.

[Tilly]

Thanks for advice, we'll be careful with the description, we certaily don't want a glass conservatory - more a wooden pergola type thingy, to give shade over the terrace.

[Quillan]

What you are building is called a terrace in France. I can't remember the square meterage but there are limits before your require proper 'planning' permission. Likewise it depend's if it is 'demountable'. Our terrace, similar to what you want to build is 5 x 5m, it is not 'attached' physically to the house and can be taken down in about five hours. We did not require any 'planning' permission because of this. However, some mayors and some DDE's may view things differently which is normal in France. Just because you can do it in one department does not mean you can do it in another, it all depends how each department 'interprets' the law.