Land ownership and installing new windows

[Thumper]

I believe there is a law that stipulates how many metres of land, beyond the wall of your property, you need to own in order to be permitted to install a new window. Does anyone know what that measurement is, and where I can find out more details?

We currently only own a strip 1 metre wide down the back of the house, but are bordered by open fields. The nearest house that we might overlook is about 100 metres away. Not only would we like to install a window in an otherwise completely solid wall, but we also need to stabilise one corner where the wall has suffered some subsidence.

Any suggestions? Many thanks in anticipation.

[Clair]

Jours et fenêtres

Si votre voisin décide de percer une ouverture qui donne

directement sur votre habitation, il doit respecter les distances

minimales définies par les articles 678 et suivants du Code civil.

S'il s'agit d'une « vue droite » (qui permet de voir sans tourner

la tête), la distance minimale est de 1,90 m entre l'extrémité

extérieure de sa façade et la limite des deux terrains. S'il s'agit

d'une vue « oblique » (obligeant à tourner la tête pour voir la

propriété voisine), la distance n'est que de 0,60 m.

On doit tenir compte de la moitié de l'épaisseur des murs

mitoyens pour calculer la distance. Si le mur vous appartient, la

distance est décomptée à partir de la limite de ce mur.

Cela étant, il peut aussi, sans conditions de

distance, créer des jours « de souffrance » qui laissent passer la

lumière sans permettre de voir (fenêtre à fer maillé, verre dormant,

etc.). Aucune distance n'est non plus imposée quand l'ouverture donne

sur un mur aveugle de votre habitation (sans fenêtres) ou sur votre

toit s'il ne dispose pas de vasistas ou de chien-assis.

Si ces règles ne sont pas respectées, vous

avez le droit de faire condamner ces ouvertures si elles ont été faites

depuis moins de trente ans, même s'il s'agit d'une erreur du précédent

voisin.

Windows

and openings

If your neighbour decides to create an opening that overlooks directly

your home, he must respect the minimum distances set out in Articles

678 and following of the Civil Code.

If it is a "straight view" (he can see without turning his head),

the minimum distance is 1.90 m between the outer wall of the facade and the boundary of the two plots.

For an "oblique view" (he has to turn his

head to see the adjoining property), the distance is only 0.60 m.

Consideration must be given half the thickness of party walls to

calculate the distance. If the wall belongs to you, distance is counted

from the edge of the wall.

However, he may also, without conditions of distance, createopenings that allow light to pass without allowing him to

see outside (iron mesh window, opague glass, etc..)

No distance is imposed

when the opening faces a blank wall of your house (no windows) or if

your roof has no roof or dormer windows.

If these rules are not respected, you have the right to condemn

such openings if they were made within the last thirty years, even if

it is a mistake from a previous owner.

More details in French: http://www.dossierfamilial.com/logement/droits-demarches/voisinage-creer-une-ouverture-dans-les-regles,3550

[Thumper]

That was quick Clair. Many thanks. So, basically, we need an extra metre. That's a lot less than I'd thought, and means less of a bill too if we can persuade the framer to part with a narrow strip.

I'll check the French link in more detail, just in case.

[Stan Streason]

I know its chancing it a bit but is 100m "directly overlooking your home"?  I would have thought not.  What is another 1.5 meters going to add?

I am interested in this as I have a blank wall (actually the boundry) which overlooks nothing but a fields of sunflowers and therefore "directly overlooks" no ones home unless "habitation" actually means property rather than house.

[Thumper]

I think it's more a case of our house having the potential to overlook the existing neighbour, rather than the other way round. If Clair's link is correct, and I was to go ahead and install the (large "French") window we plan, then I wouldn't want my neighbour to have the right to make me block it up again . . . especially as he's the one that I'm hoping to buy the land from!

[Chancer]

It wont be a case of blocking it up again if indeed anything is said, at the rear of the house and with 100m of seperation I doubt it, you have the absolute right to daylight through this wall by the means of glass bricks etc but I have a feeling that it may be limited to 1m2 per opening.

[AnOther]

Reading those regulations surely the worst you could be made to do would be replace the glass with something opaque ?

Have you approached him and asked him if he would mind ?

If not why don't you just grow a bit of a hedge or erect a fence on your boundary in between you and the distant neighbour then you can't be said to be overlooking him and equally he won't even know that you've put a window in [;-)]

[Anton Redman]

Saw scores of French houses with glass blocks on the walls nearest the boundary when I was house hunting

[Thumper]

As I hinted in the first part of my post, there's a bit more to this than just the question of the window. I'm encouraged to think that we could go ahead and (after speaking to the Mairie) install the window, but the subsidence is also part of the issue.

We need to build a buttress on one corner of that back wall, and will need more than the current 1 metre in order to give that the necessary foundations. We have established preliminary contact with the farmer, but before I blundered in and told him exactly how much land we were after, I wanted to be sure of the facts. I'd worried that we might need about 10 metres, and while he might be prepared to sell that much, I'm not sure I could afford it!

[AnOther]

I wouldn't have though that a bit of land for a vegetable garden should cost too much [;-)]

[pachapapa]

This may be a minor surprise but you will require a minimum distance of three metres plus the distance your butress extends towards the colindant boundary.

Strictly speaking you might get away with exactly three metres but your butress would have to extend all the way to the boundary AND you would require the explicit approval of the maire in order to override the distances prescribed in the Civil Code.[:D]

[Mimi]

[quote user="AnOther"]I wouldn't have though that a bit of land for a vegetable garden should cost too much [;-)]

[/quote] You might find that the price of the land is reasonable but  it's the notaire's charges that may make a big difference to the cost.  A few years ago I wanted to buy the garden (66sqm) next to mine.  The price was only 150 euros but the notaire's fees would have been more than 700 euros.  Apparently you pay practically the same irregardless of the size of the land.  I didn't go ahead with the purchase.

[just john]

You wouldn't get an allotment anywhere else I know for e850, especially if they knew your property was about to collapse[8-|]

[Clair]

[quote user="Mimi"][quote user="AnOther"]I wouldn't have though that a bit of land for a vegetable garden should cost too much [;-)][/quote] You might find that the price of the land is reasonable but  it's the notaire's charges that may make a big difference to the cost.  A few years ago I wanted to buy the garden (66sqm) next to mine.  The price was only 150 euros but the notaire's fees would have been more than 700 euros.  Apparently you pay practically the same irregardless of the size of the land.  I didn't go ahead with the purchase.[/quote]

I am finalising the purchase of a 600m² plot of land adjoining ours. The notaire's fees are €750.