Boundary issues and fences between neighbours

[nectarine]

A friend has been having problems with his French neighbours and they're not really on speaking terms now, and he's asked my advice (so of course I'm turning to Living France to see if anyone has an answer).

Each has a detached property but my friend owns the boundary line and proposes, in due course, to put up a wooden fence along that line.  At the moment it's just overgrown and the boundary has been delineated by a 'geometre' so there's no issue with the actual line.  However, the French neighbour wants to construct a stone wall on his side of the land, on his side of the boundary line, quite soon.  So there's to be a wooden fence and a stone wall right next to each other.

However, this will make it impossible for my friend to maintain and creosote the wooden fence - he'll be unable to paint it from the other side.  The French neighbour says that there only needs to be a gap of about six inches between the structures but that doesn't give my friend any room to be able to weatherproof the fence on the other side.  Is there a minimum space that has to be kept?

They really should sit down and work out their differences but, sadly, there's a lot of bad feeling.  Before my friend approaches the local mayor for advice, he wanted any advice or knowledge that might be available from this forum. 

Many thanks

[Boiling a frog]

Firstly your friend does not own the boundary line that is impossible,he may own the land up to the boundary line but not the actual line which is jointly owned The neighbour can erect a wall on the boundry ie on his side of it,likewise your friend can erect a fence on his side of the boundry.Both will need permission if over 2 mtrs high

Considering that the neighbour will not need to do anything to maintain a stone wall while your friend will need to maintain a wooden fence then as they say the ball is in the neighbours court so either they kiss and make up or your friend moves his fence back onto his land so he can have access to the other side to maintain  

[Iceni]

If my neighbour is to erect a stone wall close to the boundary I would keep my money and not bother with a wooden fence. Then just deal with the overgrown stuff as required. Or have I, as per usual, missed the point ?

John

not

[fussy]

I agree with you john, I can't see the problem, the the neighbour build

the wall, and use the fence money to buy some lovely bushes or hedging

to go in front, or like you am I missing something.

[Will]

Practice in France is for fences, hedges, walls etc to be erected a certain distance from the boundary line. The actual distance varies according to the height (and, I would not be surprised, according to the region where you live) but is in the order of at least 0.5m. The exception is 'temporary' fencing like posts and barbed wire or electric fencing.

[nectarine]

Thanks for the replies.  Will, can you clarify - so each structure has to be half a metre from the boundary line so there's a metre's clear width in between?  If so that would be the solution.  Which particular law/bye-law is this in case we need to quote this.

Just to make my question cleare - my friend wants to erect a wooden fence as he will be attaching solar air-heating panels to it as part of his overall heating system.  It's important to place these in that particular location, facing the sun.  If the neighbour erects a stone wall to tthe boundary line then can my friend attach his solar panels to their wall, or are they likely to demand that he cannot attach anything to their structure?  That's the reason why he wants the fence, rather than a wall.

So apologies for muddying the waters, but (a)  does each person have to place their structure half a metre from the boundary line and (b) if the neighbour builds his wall up to the boundary, can my friend attach his panels to their wall as it will be in his garden space?

yes, I've suggested they sit down and talk and agree but relations are very strained between them over several issues, hence the need to clarify rights over the boundary.

[Will]

I suggest you, or your friend, contacts the local maire to ascertain exactly what the local requirements are. There may or may not be an actual law, but what the maire says goes, particularly if backed up by the DDE (the planning authority). Maires are generally pretty well-informed on boundary matters and the best people to speak to to resolve these differences.

[Clair]

Anyone has the right to build a shared wall on the boundary (article 663 of the Code civil).

Building and maintenance costs are shared and the construction must be 2.6m minimum.

A shared wall can be built against by the co-owners (article 657). That might be the solution here.

A private wall can only be built within the boundary of the owner's land and local planning rules dictate distance from the bounday, height and materials. These should be available from the Mairie or the DDE.