Boundary wall horror

expensive or not its the best way to fix the boundries offically
something to read

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But potentially far more expensive not to.

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Why? You don’t yet seem to have any official notice of anything. The défenseur des droits can intervene when public authorities fail in their duties. But you have no official complaint, nothing in writing - as far as I can see this is all gossip from people you know at a distance. You have not copied what actually has been sent to you (in French) I have a feeling you may well be making the situation worse, and had you come to France and talked to the Maire, none of this would be happening.

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Undoubtably, but not worth doing unless there’s an issue with the neighbours.

Yes, I have to agree., this all seems confused, with an added smidgen of paranoia, twaddle to me. Sorry to be so blunt.

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No paranoia John a message from Marie to state my wall with Prosecutor and a neighbour and friend architect confirmed…paranoia no.

Actually Jane, the incident happened two days before I left for UK. I have my daughter visiting from US who is pregnant. I have had a message from Marie to say that my wall is with Prosecutor, confIrmed by an architect and member of Marie who is a friend. I now have an official acting on my behalf. I have not returned to France for personal reasons, also I am unable to do anything as not proficient in language as many other Brits. I put my input on here for positive advice not petty dissemination of the use of kosher as correct! :roll_eyes: Positive comments only please.

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Thank you, but im not there, don’t speak French well and now have someone acting on my behalf who will get much further than me, if needed will go later.

That’s the crux of the problem Suzan, you don’t have a clue what’s going on.

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Im not sure how you would know that John seems a pretty superficial judgement, but I can assure you I do and have somebody acting on my behalf. Thanks for helpful comments

I’ve followed the thread Suzan and a lot of knowledgable folk have tried to advise you. The whole matter seems clouded in he says, she says and “my friend”, etc. I think if you want to get this resolved you need to deal in facts and reliable sources. Otherwise it’s just a waste of time for everybody.

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And Marie is…?

It might seem to be nitpicking, but it’s Mairie.

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To be fair John Suzan says she doesn’t speak French well.

I don’t speak French well either.

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Apart from Vero, I don’t think any of us really speak French well Billy. The more we improve, then the faster they go, and the more colloquialisms and abbreviations they use, and so we are still all at sea with it.

However, what we do have is internet access to such places as Deepl.com which is invaluable when it comes to understanding French language documents.

Returning to the subject of the thread, I think it is always best to disregard word of mouth information in relation to official matters. Often, verbal sources will decline to ‘put it in writing’, and so it is then prudent to ask why that should be so.
Basically, I tend to take the position that if it isn’t in writing, then it either isn’t true, or it simply isn’t happening. What could be called ‘The Official Side’ always wants everything in writing, and so I just play by the same rules.

I think that perhaps there is often a bit of ‘human nature’ influence that becomes involved in these local matters. I believe that neither the Maire nor the local councillors are actually paid for their work, so there is a tendency to avoid taking difficult decisions in a voluntary capacity. Also, the Mairie ‘inhabitants’ all live locally, and thus it becomes easier for any unpopular decision to be taken by some other body situated miles away.
If both parties to the dispute are known to the Mairie personnel, then surely the best way forward is to have the decision as to resolution taken by some other entity a good distance away, and then the Mairie folks can stay friends with everyone. No doubt there are some unofficial recommendations that go on between the different levels of officialdom involved, but those are never going to be contained in the official dossier.

As for the wall in question, well either it was built in the correct place or it wasn’t.
Either it was built according to the rules and regs or it wasn’t, and of course either the correct papers, notices, and signs were displayed for the correct periods of time, and in the correct place, both prior to and during the construction work, or they were not.
All of these matters are questions of fact, and they will all be undoubtedly eventually resolved by the relevant experts.
I just hope that @Suzan realises that an Architect and a Surveyor (Geometre) are not at all the same thing here in France.

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Deepl is absolutely fine for getting an overview, but is clumsy and cannot be relied on for precise interpretations. Especially of complex legal documents on one hand, or very casually written things with lots of idiom on the other.

The Maire and adjoints are paid. The amount depends on size of commune.

100% agree!!

Hmmm…quite a few people have been here for 15 years or more, so I would hope their French is good. My OH is 90% fluent (never cracked the accent) from having worked in French translation/editing, and mine is good enough to cope with fast French.

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Correct, the maire and his adjoint(s) are paid a monthly fee but councillors are not, I never received any payment in my two mandates but we did have to vote to agree/abstain to the fee being offered to the maire etc. Yes it does depend on size of commune as obviously some are a very small compared to larger ones who can afford more and also the maire has to have insurance mandatory.

Indeed.

I don’t know why I cut myself off mid comment - I intended to go on to say that anything “official” in France will be in - French!

I don’t speak French is not an excuse unfortunately, especially where anything formal or legal is concerned.

Some of the problem might be that Suzan didn’t have insurance at the time. Sadly I still think this might be a problem for her - possibly the other side of the “situation” (let’s not call it a dispute yet as nothing official seem to have been engaged as per Robert’s observations) might have got wind of this and thinks they can apply pressure.

The “French” way of dealing with this might well have been to make a claim on the household insurance, give the driver’s details to them and let them sort it out. I think this avenue is not available.

One might make a claim on the driver’s insurance but it seems Suzan does not have those details either.

I think, therefore, that (as has been mentioned) a formal, written, claim for damage to the wall needs to be sent to the company on who’s behalf the driver was on the road - it has been described as a lorry so I’m presuming he was acting on his employer’s behalf.

I’m not clear whether Suzan has  made such a claim, not sure the ball is going to get rolling without it at this point.

Suzan - what concrete steps have you actually taken in this matter?

PS there are plenty of law firms in the UK who specialise in Anglo-French law and will be able to advise you if necessary. We have used Heslop & Platt and found them to be OK.

:rofl:
did you really mean that pun :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi Billybutcher, thank you for posts and information supplied. Steps I have taken all detailed over and over in previous posts.
I reported incident to gendarmes, who rang owner.
I received email stating admission.
I supplied a devis as requested.
delay.
I then contact municipal police for drivers insurance details, no reply.
I repeated, then email from urbanism dept to say wall at prosecutor.
After this we have to read rice puddings posts, as these are correct. It would seem that either someone made a complaint or when police went to see damage on wall they have decided to refer to prosecutor. Rice pudding points out that no documents will be released until a decision has been reached. So I do not receive notification of prosecution until they have actually made the decision to prosecute, but the wheels are in motion.
I have written to Mayor twice no reply.
The worry for me is, that although a decision has not yet been made, now is the time to present my information as I believe facts presented by opposite party could be distorted. I think they would be much more variable before the decision is made than after. My feeling is after they will be more resolute in attaining a judgement against me. As it is a closed shop and I am unable to speak with anyone I have spent the week trying to find a suitably senior person to communicate with parties that be. I have found such a person and now awaiting the Mairies response.

Thanks, I know a typo