Termites laws

What are the legal requirements regarding Mairie letter regarding termites in my house, and myself having to contract pest control . I would prefer to install bait stations as i dont want to pay for hazardous chemicals being sprayed into my house. Is there a legal department where you can get permission to conduct environmentally friendly methods.

What makes you think you have Termites , Paul ???

What’s the Mairie’s Letter you mention??

(gracious, septic tank problems, electricity problems and now termites ???) :zipper_mouth_face:

@Rob_le_Pest

A survey I paid for in 2017, showed the neighbours house was infested and mine is starting, you can see the damage about 1 feet square in the front room. The estimated cost for spraying is 8000, euros, So I have stated to the difficult Mairie of Eymet, that the neighbours needs to be sorted first , but I will install bait stations in mine, to eliviate the problem. The other neighbour a French citizen has complained, so the Mairie will probably insist, I pay 8000 euro and get another survey done 700 euro. I will probably go to court with this one , as I have a case regarding, the termites are from my neighbours, and I have a choice to use environmental friendly method of control, ie bait stations. There is no point in spraying as the company can’t give you a 10 year guarantee with an invested house next door, oh there English as well, just disappeared

Oh dear - now 2 years after the survey, the situation can only have got worse. You are certainly having a tough time. :zipper_mouth_face:

Going to court can be expensive, so try to resolve this amicably if you can. From your other posts it seems that you don’t live in this house and have been trying to sell it for some time? Do you live nearby so can go to the Marie and talk it through with them?

Otherwise I would be tempted to make one huge effort to offload the house for whatever you can get for it. Have you tried leboncoin?

Surely he’d then be caught by the vice caché laws.

I’m fairly sure that Termite investigation is part of the selling procedure, so would-be buyers will know what is going on…

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Not if it’s clear that the house has no mains water, has issues with sewage, termites, and electricity that is not to current standards, and possibly a leaky roof as well…then the vices are not caché!

But it strikes me that it would cost upward of 20,000€ to get the house to a standard to be able to sell it as a habitable dwelling with proper certificates for electricity and so on. And then most likely you would struggle to sell it for much more than 30,000€. So if it were me I’d talk to the Marie and then see if I could sell it as a building plot for 10,000 or 15,000€.

As Stella says. You can’t hide termites if you’ve got 'em.
A property developer might take it on.

perhaps I misread Jane’s enthusiasm for a quick sale as wanting to hide the full extent of the problem.

Everyone seems scared of legal proceedings, if I am trying my best to mitigate the problem,where the problem is mainly, the neighbours, as the termites will return unlessthey do there house first, then bait stations is the best I can do. So
I would win my case.

Not scared, just aware of how much that could cost and how long it could take. Are you fluent in french? As if not you probably have to factor in translators’s costs too.

Who would you be taking to court anyway, and for what? The neighbour for not treating the termites? If they are non resident english people that could take a long time. Or the Marie for not allowing you to use an alternative method? That could require getting experts on board, again would cost.

Sometimes it’s best to just walk away with what you can get. I think you might be throwing good money into the wind. Hugely frustrating when you are in the right, but if you don’t live nearby it could be very hard.

Oh how simple you make it sound.

Have you found out

?

The answer is here:

"Si la présence de termites est confirmée par le diagnostic, le propriétaire ou le syndic de copropriété doit faire réaliser des travaux d’éradication dans un délai fixé par la mairie. Ces travaux doivent être réalisés par l’entreprise de son choix.

Une fois les travaux terminés, le propriétaire ou le syndic de copropriété doit adresser au maire une attestation certifiant que les travaux ont été réalisés. Cette attestation leur est remise par l’entreprise qui a effectué les travaux. Elle doit être envoyée au maire par lettre recommandée avec avis de réception ou déposée contre récépissé."
That’s the law.

It’s likely that your neighbours have received an identical letter, which they may or may not comply with, but do their actions or inaction affect your own personal legal obligations? Logically maybe - but legally? All the law says, is that if the diagnostics show termites to be present, the mayor can require the owner to have remedial work carried out by a certain deadline, and the owner must send in a certificate from the company that did the work to confirm that it has been done.

Are you expecting a French court to rule that you don’t need to comply with French law? I doubt that you would win that case.

Unless you’re planning to go through all the legal processes of bringing your case to court and presenting your own defence (as Jane says, what exactly is your “case” and who is it against?), remember that “no win no fee” does not exist in France and avocats are expensive.

I suggest first stop the mairie to discuss it amicably. Mayors understand that folk can’t always afford to do what in an ideal world they would be expected to do, but if he sees that your intentions are good then he may be able to suggest a solution.

No matter what the termite company states regarding a 10 year guarantee of keeping termites from your home, is basically rubbish, the termites will return once the chemical has passed it active state , usually after 6 months to a year. So the neighbours has to be dealt with first, I can bait station my house for now , which will help eradicate the neighbours termites, through poison being transfered back to that nest, once the neighbours has had the pest control in then with a bit of luck mybait stations will havekilled the ones in my house.French Law is only based around any proven method of eradication through spraying heavy chemicals into the timber and substrates aroundthehouse . There are other methods that can be used and America and Canada lead in the more environmentally friendly methods of termite control. I am a environmental scientist specialising in ecotoxicology, so I am concerned with French Law dictating to council to enforce unproven methods using very harmful chemicals .