We have owned a small rental property in a nearby town for 16 years. The only exit from the house is directly onto a public unmade-up footpath. There are concrete steps leading up to the front door, and concrete hardstands the length of the front of the property to each side of the steps, approximately 1 metre wide.
The local mayor is claiming that the hardstands and steps belong to the commune, not to the property. This is related to a problem the current tenant is having with the mayor, who is forbidding her to put anything on the hard stands. He has thrown away a childâs bicycle and a bench that were on the hard stand.
From the cadastre it is not possible to define whether the property includes the steps and hardstands and I canât afford to employ a geometre.
Would anybody know whether the mayor is correct? Can it be possible that a property does not own the steps leading up to it, or the hardstands outside?
This is part of a long story involving harrassment by the mayor of the tenant, but Iâm limiting it to ascertaining the situation regarding the hardstands and steps.
Hard to imagine the hard stands are part of a right of way as the steps would be in the middle.
Others actually know about this stuff but personally Iâd ask the notaire if the hardstanding and steps are part of the voie publique. Or if thereâs any rule that says a property owner has to keep the outside metre or so of their own property clear (which would be nonsense, but you never know). Or the outside meter of oneâs own property if it abuts a voie publique for example.
Personally Iâd be itching to find a way to send the maire personally c/o the mairie, a facture for the replacement of the items he appropriated off private property without cause and threw away. If I could serve him an order to stop harassing my tenant Iâd do that as well - but that may be wishful thinking.
Is this the poor girl that was getting damp in the place by drying wet washing indoors without ventilating? Has she done anything to annoy the maire or any crony of his (such as possibly the neighbours)?
Yes, it is the same tenant. Poor girl, trying so hard to live her life and care for her kids and get them educated.
Her problem is her family, who are notorious in the town. Drinking, littering, dangerous driving, things âdisappearingâ, you name it, they are believed to be responsible for it. The mayor wants them all out of town. Iâm not sure if itâs her brother, husband, ex-husband or partner who spends a lot of time with her in the house.
The point is that she herself is not responsible, nor can she in any way control the behaviour of her family but she seems to be on the mayorâs hit list simply by association.
I will speak to the notaire. In the meantime I am assembling a list of organisations who may be able to help her regarding harrassment and abuse of power, and hoping she can find somebody to speak to them on her behalf. She is afraid of inviting even more problems from the mayor if she complains about her property being stolen by him.
FWIW not going to help you, as obvs you need a tenant, but that was one of the possibilities I imagined. If she wants to be disassociated with the rep of the family she may best move to another place at some distance.
It wouldnât be an option for her, because as troublesome as her family are, they are hers, and she loves them, they are very close, and they all support each other. As a marginalised family they stick together and donât get any help. I donât think she could manage without them.
I thought as much. A member of my family married into a family with some similar reputational difficulties. It doesnât stop - might be better for the next generation.
Would like to see her get paid out for what the mayor took off her property though. Letâs hope the notaire can clarify
I hope so. I really canât afford to employ a geometre at the moment. She has been advised to report the theft of her property to the gendarmes, but I think she is afraid to involve them and bring down more problems on herself.
If you donât get anywhere on the main official site for plan cadastrals (our local ones are not available there for some reason) you can try https://france-cadastre.fr
Just for information, in case Forum folk ever have stuff go missingâŠ
I had a gate and a bench disappear from our small âdivorcedâ garden⊠by â???â.
Asked for guidance at the Mairie and they said to report to Gendarmes as it might link to other events⊠or it might not.
Gendarmes took the details of the missing articles, asked if Iâd any thoughts on âwhoâŠâ (nope).
Thanked me for taking the time and they explained that having lots of jigsaw pieces sometimes helped them to build the bigger picture⊠sometimes not.
Plus they would keep their eyes open for the missing stuffâŠ
Of course, it is up to the individual⊠but the Gendarmes are there for a reason and I like to think that no-one should be afraid to approach them⊠(but I understand if they are)âŠ
She can always âdepose un main courantâ at the gendarmerie. A very useful way of flagging up problems without actually making a complaint, and without the police telling the person (of one has been identified) that a complaint has been made against them. Nothing is done, but the benefit is that they provide evidence if something needs to be done later.
Several in our hamlet are doing this about our drunken neighbour who believes all his animals (sheep, goats and rabbits) have no need to be fenced in. He has been fined and warned by the police that if it keeps happening the animals will be removed, So we are leaving dated photos at the gendarmerie.
You may have already done this but itâs worth checking out the government cadastral site. If youâve had the property for a while the cadastral plans that you have might be unclear (I know ours are, from 20 years ago). This site is a lot more precise, & you can even take measurements from it.
WARNING: itâs a bit clunky but it does workâŠ
Talk to the notaire. If youâve got a good one often they can practically advise on such things.
Does she have proof the maire (or whoever on his behalf?) removed her stuff.
No idea if any public service or notaire is empowered to write an initial polite letter requesting the return of the equipment. Even if local sources told you it was down the dechetterie. Iâd not be willing to put up with it -for one thing, to stem worse abuses. If I had a sub to Que Choisir Iâd be using one of my annual 4 question allowance for a question to their legal team and possible draft letter for this.
Worryingly, I just put my full address into the site, and it gave me a completely wrong plot of land, in the middle of a field, with no house on it. We do have 2 different addresses though, and the other shows as being in the middle of a completely different field. At least that one is within 100m of where we live. The first is at the far end of the commune.
If your full address only consists of a lieu-dit, that is quite possible. Our L-D is a large area which includes two properties and four large fields. A cadastral plan would show any/all of that. We have friends who lived in a L-D which has the same name as another on the other side of the river Lot. This is one of the reasons why street names and numbers are being added to properties in the country.
Iâd be slightly surprised if one address only offered you one parcelle. My address lists bout 15 plots, some tiny, some large (& there used to be more, but they got rationalised a few years ago). Once youâve found your rough location you can zoom in on whichever parcelle you want to look at more closely.
