Thanks for the advise all, give me a shout if any of you are ever in Tarbes 
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That is the estimate price per meter for renovation, holy smokes I am crying
Donât forget too that if your property is within 300m of a Monument Historique which can be anything from a church to a roadside cross, you have to apply to the Architecte de BĂątiments de France for exterior changes to your property, especially windows, doors, velux inserts etc. You would be notified when your application is returned if you are doing any of those things or a full permis for any extensions etc. These days they can see everything people do via satelite and I for one got caught out regarding some windows we changed 25 years ago and did not have the small panes in the new ones but they let me off as it was too long ago and I was again replacing them with approved versions.
Aargh
Afraid soâŠ.and will only get worse.
As I said above âŠ
It is good you share this with me. I was told to think about building a new house instead of renovating a ruin and now I know why.
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itâs what we did⊠but get permission to remove the ruin first 
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Hi Martin - I have been following this thread; and all I see is red flags waving! Putting it bluntly, I think it would be fair to say that you are a virgin when it comes to taking on a total renovation project. Youâve been given lotâs of good advice; but - for example - I canât see the point of you going to talk to your maire if you havenât a clue whatâs involved, and therefore wonât ask the right questions. The French will always assume that you know at least the basic background - and that goes for notaires too, when you start on the legal side of the purchase. Maybe if you posted a couple of photos it would help people to advise?
A house which is not even connected to the electricity supply is obviously in a seriously neglected state. In the UK you would pay for a Chartered Surveyor to give you a detailed Report - but unfortunately they donât exist in France (âgeometresâ surveyors do not carry out this work). You are asking for help regarding how to connect up the property to basic services, and what the cost of that might be - but have you any clue what it costs to re-roof a house? Or replace all the rotten shutters? Or windows? Or doors? Or floors? Replastering? Electrics? Plumbing? Kitchen units? bathroom(s)? . . . . and so on.
You ask if you can get âfinancial helpâ. Does that tell the true story? The answer is âNoâ - and if you need it, donât even think about the project.
Sorry to be abrupt. But in France you buy a house âas seenâ. There is no come-back. Your best bet is to find a local builder to visit, and quote you - but he will need a clear brief as to what he is quoting for. It has to start with you, not fag-packet figures for little details.
As Sue said - the best money you can spend will be on a maitre-dâoeuvre to oversee everything. Itâs a % of the project total, but they will do all the quotes and control the artisans . . . and you will have a job well done, not bodged.
I wonât wish you âgood luckâ - it doesnât come into it!
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We have just done this, we have previously done 2 full renovations ourselves but this time this the maitre-dâĆuvre can have the grief.
We did a full renovation (just 4 external walls and a few beams are all the remain of the original house) having previously done rehabs of UK properties. The key to it was a local builder that we trusted 120% who helped co-ordinate, helped source materials, helped with suggestions to keep within budget and was just invaluable. We did have an architect draw up plans to get planning permission, but he was a drunken sot so we re-did them ourselves and just got him to stamp the final drawings.
It was years in the planning and years in the doing. We had to wait over 2 years for the roofer we wanted for example. And we were onsite - partly to keep costs down by doing the labouring. Doing it at a distance is a whole other ballgame!
It was fun (mostly), exhausting at times and frustrating at others. But something that has given us a lot of pleasure to have achieved. So if that is the sort of thing that appeals then donât be put off. We bought our project in at âŹ950/sq metre - including fixtures and fittings and internal decoration. But that was rather a few years ago.
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Ours worked out about âŹ525 a sqr m, but came with a new roof, new hardwood double glazing throughout and a pompe chaleur in every room. However our costs have been those of (slightly) demodernising a C14th century house, removal of false ceilings on three floors cleaning of beams and replastering, removal of Crepi, reinstatement of floors in more sympathetic materials, fitting a contemporary kitchen and lots of plumbing.
The house was âready to move in toâ ten years ago, but I think weâve at least two further yearâs of alterations.
??
We have one pompe à chaleur for heating, and one for hot water⊠They are large things, so not sure how one fits one in every room?
(Our renovation included new utility connections, a massive depth of concret on ground floor to stabilise it, new roof beams as well as roof, all plumbing electrics, drains, new ceilings, windows and doors, internal walls, flooring, internal insulation - basically everything!)
I think @DrMarkH is suggesting reversible aircon in every room which are essentially pompe Ă chaleur.
Weâre possibly thinking of slightly different things, ours are small(ish), individual units, rather than a central one that drives everything. In actuality, we use them mainly for cooling / dehumidifying certain rooms, rather than for general purpose heating.
Itâs worth posting on this SF site just to get your response, Jane - always a sound commentary, based on knowledge. Just love your âdrunken sotâ anecdote - in my experience âarchitectsâ in France are useless, but have a comfy income because you haver to pay them to sign off applications. Itâs a stitch-up. 
from me!!
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Think it is 500 metres
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Yes 500m if visible, less I suppose if not visible from the monument in question.
We were always 300m on paperwork but were hidden behind other houses and literally 100m from the village church so yes, maybe it has changed recently depending on the property involved. Anyway it is usually automatically marked on returned official paperwork when you put a demand into your local mairie for works.
My friend has a house with a beautiful view on the Pyrenees. But now somebody wants to build a big house which will bloke the view. She has been told there is nothing she can do, is this correct?