Hi, Does anyone have anything definitive concerning the erection of boundary fences?
We have a semi-detached house next door, with one of our sitting room windows and one of our dining room windows looking out onto the garden of this house. We have a concrete strip along the side of our property allowing us access for maintenance. The house has been empty ever since we arrived, except for the owner visiting once or twice a week. We have always had good relations with the owner, helping each other out when needed.
He has renovated the house, and has persuaded his daughter to move in by September this year. She has two cats and is planning to have two more, so she told us, that is myself and one of our neighbours, whose French is better than mine, she planned to build a fence to constrain the cats. I asked about the restriction of our light, and she was very clear. Pointing to the concrete strip she said, 'here is your boundary, but the fence will be here', and took two steps to her left away from the strip, about a metre and a half. I indicated I would be happy with that.
Now her father and a contractor are erecting the fence - piquets of about two and half metres, right up to the concrete strip. with one outside each window. Judging by the unloaded materials, they plan to attach horizontal half piquets with a wire mesh over that.
Our view and our light will both be affected.
Do we have any redress at all? Can anyone please advise?
Meantime I am erecting a fence along the length of the two gardens, to replace a very old one which had become overgrown, and which I took down with help from the owner. My fence will consist of five panels 1.8 metres high along the first 9 metres, and a wire mesh for the remaining 20 metres. I wrote to the owner two years ago, and he approved, and we have several conversations since I began the work.
Hi Ben, don't doubt your info as mine is a memory fading as it was a dark time with the neighbors. Certainly the issue of 0.5m in from the boundary was I believe something to do with the planting of shrubs as this is not that case then it sounds like you are correct.
The bit that is different as you say a wire mesh fence does still give a view but if the construction was solid as in our case we had a right in law due to 2 previous cases setting a precedent for French law to have the fence altered to re gain our view. Fortunately we were, with this information, able to avoid costly court action but Roger, I think you are stuck with the wire mesh fence.
Hi Roger, the owner of the house has the perfect right to enclose his property if this has not done before; this right is laid out in the Code Civil.(articles 653-665 for stone walls and 666-670 for all other types). Basically if there are no specific, local rules (you need to ask the department of "urbanisation" for the PLU ) your neighbors can erect a separation of 3.6 meters high if you live in a city of 50,000 or more inhabitants and of 2.6 meters for the other cities. (guess the latter is your category given the height of the piquet).
I think if you need to look at this simplistically it is on / or near the boundary and it is either a fence or it is not a fence. If it is a fence then it will be subject to the regulation. You said
'her father and a contractor are erecting the fence - piquets of about two and half metres, right up to the concrete strip. with one outside each window. Judging by the unloaded materials, they plan to attach horizontal half piquets with a wire mesh over that.'
You need to either clarify the construction with the father or go to the Mayor for advice. Bonne chance.
Thank you Clare. The construction is not a boundary fence as such - best described as a containment enclosure, rather like a chicken coop - since they have used wooden piquets I reckon it would a good bet that the cats, when they arrive will easily climb out!
Thank you Doreen, spoke to the father yesterday before all posts were installed, and he was insistent the outer part was up to the permitted 1 metre of access along the wall of our actual house. The construction has moved on apace since we spoke!
I understood that a fence must be erected at min. 1 m inside the joint boundary. Regarding height restrictions, anything above 1.8 m requires official permission - a visit to your mairie may be useful...
There is no "right to light " in France. If you have a scenic view i.e. not of a cement works etc then you can have that maintained. The wire mesh would still give you a view albeit slightly reduced. All new fences have to be registered at the Mairies I seem to remember from a dispute we went through 11 years ago and I seem to remember you can't buid the fence within .5m of the building line but that maybe for planting bushes of trees. There were two legal precedent casses that defined the above point but it was so long ago now I doubt I have the information any longer.