Yes, when I bought our ‘build able plot’ the local farmer had an agreement with the then owner to graze his cattle on ‘our field’ . I used a solicitor in Port Solent in Pompey who had a ‘specialist French dept’ . They advised us to ask the owner to get the farmer to remove his cows and whatever agreement existed before we signed for the land. If we didn’t that agreement could still be in force in the favour of the farmer.
The owner did as we asked and we bought the land back in 2004.
… The farmer refuses to speak to us mind, lol.
I have done this via a notaire and kept a copy of the Commodat, which would be very easy to re-draft to suit your purposes.
Ideally it should be notarised but this would probably cost in the region of 200 euros or so.
I can send a copy, if you would like?
Absolutely talk to a Notaire. The Peasant in France has extraordinarily wide in-built advantages, plus laws on heritage come into play which usually means division of land in often complicated ways, or multiple ownerships which are very difficult to unravel.
For example we have discovered that we have the land surrounding a tree in our garden (about 3mm2) has a different land-title and belongs to a non-adjacent neighbour. We could buy it for about €100, but the land transfer cost would be €750! The neighbour isn't bothered and neither are we, but legally it is not our land - all 3m2 of it!
We had a former neighbour in the Lot, who showed us all the land titles she had accumulated through inheritance, and they were hysterical - one was the land on which a 'Keep Left' arrow was mounted, the other on a stretch of agricultural land of 1km long x O.5m wide!
This is NOT unusual, but as others have pointed out be very wary of tranferring rights on your land to others.
The peasants are not stupid and they know their rights , including assumed ones,- so make sure you know yours.
Thanks for this post! I once heard France is a country of lawyers and farmers. And now even arises the strange impression lawyers are making such a schemes especially on behalf of self-interest ... ... Anyway, that's why last year a neighbor inquired whether his two horses may eat my lawn. Slowly nothing surprises me any more.
Thank you, Brian. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and speak to a Notaire.
Thank you, Patrick. I guess I'll just have to pop along and have a chat!
Yes, careful. We have a couple of pieces of land close by us that are now in dispute. Use for X amount of time gives the user the right of 'servitude'. We have one bit of 'our' garden that is similar. Normally a written document is required but in our case it can be proven that this house has used it since the previous owners two back, thus the 1920s, so we have more rights than the actual owner although no documentation. The ones on which cattle have been kept on neighbouring land have been used by successive dairy farming generations but now the present owner is selling up. They too lack documentation but the notaire advising our neighbour wishing to sell has told him he must make it clear that it goes with grazing rights to the present users. It actually means that somebody buying could not keep their own animals on that land. We, on the other hand, have an agreement for cutting our grass which is great because we get a ton or two of manure a year in return, the farmer gets several rolls of hay and should we have animals ever it will simply no longer be worth his while because we have grazing rights. Notaire, fast, and get it sorted out before the unthinkable sneaks up on you.
Take the advice of a Notaire...I know someone who did and his verbal advice was No Grazing...only allow the other party to "have the cut no beasts on the land". Advice may vary it may be workable with a baseline of a legal form of words prepared by a Notaire... I am not a Notaire!
Regards Patrick ( ^-^)