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Town planning
The
French term being referred to here is ‘urbanisme’. Each locality in
France
is subject to town planning rules and regulations.
These range from general town planning regulations which do not state any
particular restrictions to building of any type being prohibited. The
objective of the rules and regulations are manifold and include the
protection of historical monuments and rural areas, the harmonisation of
new buildings in areas subject to development and the provision of
services such as roads and mains drainage.
Any
given property will have a set of rules and regulations attached to it. As
part of the searches that are undertaken, the notaire will obtain details
of them. This could consist of general information in a town planning
information note (note de renseignements d’urbanisme) or specific
information such as the feasibility of a construction project in a town
planning certificate (certificat d’urbanisme).
For most sales, the former will be sought if only basic details are
required.
The
town planning document obtained will identify the property and also
provide information such as the services that it is connected to and
whether it is in any way classified. It will also give the rules and
regulations applicable to the property e.g. whether it is subject to
particular requirements in relation to planning permission because it is
located near to an historical monument or whether the local authority
benefits from any right (easement) over the property for the installation
of services or the widening of roads. It is this last aspect which will
enable a future purchaser to know whether the TGV will be extended across
the bottom of the garden. In certain cases, properties are subject to
rights of pre-emption by the local authority which enables the town hall,
for example, to decide that it wants a particular barn in preference to
the purchaser in order to extend its workshops or carry out some other
such project. In one recent case, it was revealed that the local
administration had a right to purchase compulsorily all properties in a
village up until 2006 for tourism purposes.
In
order to ensure that you are protected against anything adverse revealed
by the town planning documentation, it is essential to ensure that there
is a condition precedent in the first contract (compromis) to this effect.
As a result, if it is discovered that the house you are intending to
purchase can be subject to compulsory purchase at any time over the next
three years or that they will build the TGV through the garden, you can
withdraw from the purchase with your deposit returned. This is of even
greater importance should you be intending to undertake a project that
will be dependent upon you obtaining authorisation for the same and this
should be the subject of a special condition. Finally, this document
should be checked prior to signing to ensure that all is in order because
it may be too late when you become the unfortunate person lumbered with a
town planning problem.
17/02/2003
- Issue of the week
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