Knocking down a house

[londoneye]

hi - i have searched this but not come up with too much.

We have an old (no idea how old though) and extremely dilapidated, tiny house on our property.    Our original intention was to renovate this house as last stage of our works.    However, as time has moved on the house has deteriorated very quickly to the point where it may soon become a little dangerous.    Taking that aside, of course our original costings for renovation are now totally unrealistic due to the ongoing deterioration.

Thus, we now need to make decision as to whether to continue with renovation idea (eg board up for safety and let it do what it wants for a few more years), or take the plunge and get it knocked down.

Does anyone have any experience of knocking down houses, i assume i would need some kind of permission to do this ?   Any idea of cost of such an enterprise (the house is tiny, perhaps 6 metres square, two levels (in theory, right now there are no levels inside!).

 

[Teamedup]

I am pretty sure that you need planning permission to do it. You had better check with your Mairie. I would be asking local builders what they would charge for doing this.

[Val_2]

I can confirm that you will need authorisation to demolish any existing building on your property and get it in writing too in case of future problems with the cadastral registrations.

[londoneye]

thanks all; my french neighbour is insisting i don't need permission; he is of the opinion asking permission only causes you problems (!!!).   However, come to think of it he told us not to seek permission for our pool either, because our taxes would increase (yes, we ignored him then as well !).

As for re-building, we definitely wouldn't rebuild on the site, so that would not be a problem. 

Looks like a trip to mairie (again) is in order when we make final decision.

thanks again

[BJSLIV]

If you are knocking something down, unless it is a listed building(!), you have nothing to loose. You might even get your taxes reduced.

[Teamedup]

[quote user="londoneye"]

thanks all; my french neighbour is insisting i don't need permission; he is of the opinion asking permission only causes you problems (!!!).   However, come to think of it he told us not to seek permission for our pool either, because our taxes would increase (yes, we ignored him then as well !).

As for re-building, we definitely wouldn't rebuild on the site, so that would not be a problem. 

Looks like a trip to mairie (again) is in order when we make final decision.

thanks again

[/quote]

 

[:)]Ah neighbours insisting......... sometimes I just listen and am humming the jackanory tune in my head. As BJSLIV said, you might get a reduction in local taxes if it is done properly.

[Nick Trollope]

The demolition of any permanent structure needs a permis de demolir (a simple enough form and free). As BJ implies, it should result in a reduction in tax. Ha ha.

[londoneye]

well i do pay 35 euros a year (or something similar !) in tax fonciere for the little wreck, so i suppose its worth it ....

no, to be honest, we have a bee in our bonnet about doing things correctly so i willdo it if we take that decision.

thanks again everyone

[Cassis]

Do as BJ says and get permission to demolish it.   I have heard that it can, in certain circumstances, ease planning permission should you decide to rebuild at some point in the future, if you leave the foundations and the base of the walls intact.  Depends on whether you are already close to the density of construction permitted on the land that you have.

[Mark]

I shall be knocking my house down tomorrow, regardless of planning regs, as my thumbs and fingers have now congealed into a gooey bloody pulp as a result of trying to make the place pretty, and I simply can't go on.  **** it.

[Cassis]

So pleased it's all going so well.  I trust Squidge's manicure is intact?

[Teamedup]

That isn't always the case Cassis. Sometimes once land become clear of any building, then getting a new permis de construire can be very difficult, it really depends where it is.

 

 

[Mark]

[quote user="Cassis"]So pleased it's all going so well.  I trust Squidge's manicure is intact?
[/quote]

She was on plastering duty today whilst I tried to hide some idiosyncratic electrical cabling with strategically placed planks of wood.  She just doesn't whinge as much as me.

[Cassis]

Getting plastered is much more fun, I reckon she's had the better deal.

TU - are you saying that the tale I was told (about leaving the footings intact making it easier to rebuild) is another French myth?  I honestly don't know, it's just what I was told by an estate agent, so it's not a reliable source. [:D]

[BJSLIV]

I shall be knocking my house down tomorrow

Hope you let the people know who are booked to stay with you at Easter.......

[Teamedup]

Would I believe an estate agent, I would check up myself. Planning regulations do vary.

Recently a voisin of ours knocked down quite a big building without permission and I was told that they would have to apply for permission to build again. I didn't ask about the footings being left and they didn't mention it. It seemed pretty reasonable and straight forward to me.

 

[Tresco]

Mark 24 is/was on top form tonight.

Misery makes for such good comedy when it's presented well, in a comedy form, making light of all the...miserable aspects of the misery.

So Mark, thanks for that.[:D]

Don't forget, you have the best roofscape view on the whole wild world that is this forum. Nothing can take that away from you, unless Squigde scratches your eyes out for sheer cockiness....[:P]

[Llantony]

This has made me wonder...  We bought a tiny ruin to get legal access to the space below the garage next to it which we bought.   We had a vague idea (encouraged by a French friend) that we could build it up and sell it as a small house. 

I'm beginning to think that wouldn't be worth the trouble even if we had the money.  Everything has to be built in stone, which is very expensive, and properly roofed as it's in a medieval village - despite the many iron roofs and concrete builings around!  The garage itself is breezeblock with corrugated iron roof.  The ruin is becoming a liability as we've had a complaint via the Mairie - malicious I'm pretty sure, as it's not bothering anyone.

It's not next to our house and is beside a narrow street but below street level. If we got permission to demolish the ruin, the space would probably become an eyesore full of rubbish.  It's not next to our house and is beside a narrow street but below street level. This means we'd have to make sure there's a wall along the road to stop people falling down.  Any thoughts?