Hello there. I am new to Survive France and cannot work out how to post a query so hope this is the correct forum.
I have a holiday home nr Sancerre and sadly have not been able to visit since August last year due to the pandemic. A neighbour who lives behind my barn conversion sent me an email last week and complained that weeds were growing from my garden through to hers. I was about to reply a couple of days later informing her that we hoped to visit before the end of July. I then received a phone call from another neighbour telling me that the complaining neighbour had got a gardener to go to my property and strim the weeds. I then got a further email from the complaining neighbour saying that a bees nest had been discovered in the eves of my property and that she had been stung - she did not admit that this had happened as the strumming had caused the bees to become aggravated. She told me that she had notified the Marie and that I had to deal with the bees nest as I have a legal responsibility to do so. As I cannot get to my property for a couple of weeks, does anyone know if she is correct in saying that I have a legal responsibility to do this? I believe that it was her fault as she trespassed on to my property and had she not got a gardener to make a lot of noise, the bees would have not been disturbed. I do not and will not destroy a bees nest as I know that they are in decline . Any advise would be much appreciates as this has worried me a great deal being so far away. Thank you and hello to you all./
Hi Denise and welcome to SF.
A quick administrative matter if I may. Can you please change your registration to include your first name then last name in the Name field as per SF T&Cs. Thank you. @cat
Hi Graham. I have no idea where and how to do this so sorry. Can you advise as I cannot navigate the site very well. Normally very IT proficient but am unable to find where to do this ?
No problem Denise.
Click on your avatar on the extreme right of the SF banner and select the person icon the Preferences → Account and scroll down to the Name field and change the detail there. After which, scroll down to the end and click on Save Changes.
If you still have a problem click on @cat select Message and she can do it for you.
You are quite right to be concerned about the safety of bees. A local beekeeper might be willing to help remove them safely and your local mairie can probably advise you in that regard.
Are you certain they are bees and not frelon asiatique which will be of much concern to the mairie where there are special arrangements often in place to remove them.
If you have bee hives then you are responsible, but wild swarms are different.
And you can be required to destroy hornets’ nest but not bees nests as these are not supposed to be destroyed. The best thing would be to try to contact a local bee keeper to see if they would come and try to re-home the nest.
As for the neighbour…I think they are trying it on.
Thanks Graham. I believe they are bees but as I am not there I cannot confirm this. I assume my annoying neighbour has identified them. It is the legal threat that has worried me. I will be emailing my Marie tomorrow to see if they can offer any advise. They are not very quick to respond (if at all) to emails. I was just wondering if anyone knew of my legal obligations. Hope I have changed my details on the site correctly. I will take the time to orientate myself over the coming days. It is nice to be a member of what is clearly a very friendly and helpful site. Take care and thank you again.
Hi Jane. Thank you for your reassuring remarks - I agree that she is trying it on. I am quite cross that she threatened me like this. I do no intend to counter threat with trespass yet but if she continues I will. Up to now, we have been on friendly terms but as she is quite old and lives alone, I suspect she has nothing better to do. I am hoping that the Marie will have details of a local bee keeper. I am happy for the bees to stay until I am actually in France to ensure safe removal/resisting. They may even decide to go elsewhere of their own accord. Nice to speak to you, stay safe
If she continues, tell her it is unfortunate that the worldwide pandemic has meant you have not been able to visit regularly. However ask her politely to provide evidence of any damage to pass on to your insurers (you will have civil liability insurance as part of your house insurance).
Denise, IMHO you are sitting in the UK hunky dory but your neighbour (who I would recommend you try and maintain a reasonable relationship with) is sitting next door to your problem. Forgive me for being blunt, just fix it
They are wild bees so not the property of Denise. One bee has already died assuming the neighbour was actually stung.
Knowing you are not there cutting down weeds that protrude would be fine but gaining access to do so needs confirming with someone like the maire who will lnow the rules.
Rubbish John. There are many, many reasons why people aren’t in their homes - working elsewhere, illness, family emergencies, and so on. Some weeds and a bees next are not major emergencies, so having now been told there is a problem perfectly appropriate to say that she will now look to find a solution. This is a pretty everyday issue in rural areas - after all most people have a bees nest within foraging distance of their homes, you’re just not aware of it.
Had it been bamboo and asian hornets perhaps a different matter.
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree Jane. If I lived in a house and my neighbour lived elsewhere else I would have zero sympathy with their logistical problems. My life shouldn’t be disrupted because of their problems. BTW, we’ve always practiced what we preach Denise needs to sort it,
Oh dear, I thought this was a friendly supportive site John! Like jane says, I have not been able to get out to my lovely second home in France. Perhaps you could pop over and sort it for me!!! I can only assume that you are not in favour of holiday homes where people pay all their taxes even though they only use the facilities for a few weeks each year. Rather that have a unfriendly debate on this forum I think you and I will have to uncommunicative - I wish you well John stay safe and be happy! Thank you Jane, you have been very friendly and upheld the meaning of this site. Take care too
Thanks John Withall - like I said, I do want to be there when this is dealt with as I want to ensure that the bees are not killed but relocated elsewhere. I do hope to get out to France ASAp which now looks very likely. You take care, stay safe and thanks for your advice
Hi Denise, just remember old folk often fixate on things making the issue the centre of their world, often a sign of dementia.
So remember most of us are friendly even if you do get a frank answer occasionally.
Denise needs to sort it,
