Mark,
If the Mairie wont help you should go to the local gendarmerie AFTER you have spoken to the noisy neighbours. You should impress on them that they have neighbours and therefore a legal obligation to restrict noise. Be careful that they are not one of these religious cult training areas. If so, you need urgent legal help. Our household insurance has legal assistance includede - they may help.
Bon courage
Hi.
We live in the countryside down a track. Very tranquile.
In moved to the next house about400metre away . Townies, Moterbikes, Qwads and very loud music. I mean loads. One week end it was like thunder, a rave.As I wasnt invited,I called round. Big speackers the size of a pair of French windows, outside.I expained,with with my hands,too loud, ok ,keep it down,dogs barking,police may get called.They didnt listen, maybe deaf.Sure enough they did arrive , neighber other side called them.
Since then, tranquil once more.
Not the same I know
Oh dear, this sounds very upsetting and frustrating too. Im not a lawyer but Im pretty certain that they dont have the right to run a business from a house like that without either a change of use clause and/or payment of taxe professionelle.
Have a look in your contract from your house purchase (yes I know its probably the size of a telephone directory) and see if there is anything in yours about not being allowed to use it for business purposes and that may help you with the language needed and the law. The Mairie should not be useless, it is there job to sort these things out and I am amazed they dont want to do that before you involve any legal parties.
As has been said, I think you need to talk to the owners too, who are the ones who you would have to 'sue' if it came to it, for breaching the contract. They may therefore be able to bring to bear some pressure on the leasees.
Not alot more I can say except that you have my sympathies, we move here often for peace and calm and its horrible when that changes beyond our control suddenly.
You do have a real problem, and I'm sure that you will be offered all kinds of advice. However, be warned about the Gallic shrug! I have a house in the Creuse and a very small and ancient cottage opposite which at the moment I use as a shed, the problem is that it is in a terrace and on one side there is a barn and on the other side there is a ruin! It was a pretty cottage but has been unused since the 1960's and is now in a state of collapse, if it does collapse it will inevitably take some or all of the party wall and my cottage will collapse as well. I complained to the Mairie and was told first of all that my insurance will cover it, but having had experience with French insurers I doubt that! I then on the advice of French friends wrote to the Maire and told him that he had a legal obligation to do something about it and he wrote back saying it was impossible because the ruin was owned by fifteen people one of whom is in jail and several cannot be traced! I then applied to a Tribunal in Limoges and won! I had a printed document telling me that the Marie had been instructed that he MUST remove the collapsing roof and timbers that all walls including the party wall must be made safe and supported if necessary and the cost should be born by the commune and claimed back from those members of the fifteen that can be traced. Four years on NOTHING has been done, and I regularly meet the Maire and remind him that I have won the Tribunal and wave the document at him and he Shrugs and tells me that the Commune has no money to do anything and that my insurance will pay!! I do not envy you your struggle and hope you can resolve this. Have you written to the owners? Are they American, and are they connected to the present tenants in any way? Good luck!!!!!
Put "acoustic" or "db" into an app search engine and see what it comes up with, at least you will be able to get a feel for the noise differential. You can even record this onto your computer over a period of quiet nights and noisy afternoons - it won't take up much space.
Hi Mark -
Are you in contact with your old neighbours? Or can you get hold of thier address in the States? As it sound like that they are renting the place to the Americans, are the the owners aware that this happening or would be going on. Surely the Americans renting at present would have had to sign some kind of 'renting conditions' ie also stating themax amount of people allowed in the house and about being considered to people around them?
Even if you local maire is useless, just a thought - would you be able to get signature from even just some of your neighbours, and send a registered letter (the French are very good at this - also as it could be come a legal matter) to the maire? Well, it's just a thought....
Good luck - hope we hear something good from you in the near future....
PS! Maybe you should get up very early in the morning and make a lot of noise, however, of course that would upset your other neighbours....
Have a look at the Useful Links page. There's a link in there about noise problems. http://www.survivefrance.com/page/useful-links
I think this is it http://www.bruit.fr/FR/info/Les%20textes/01020200
And as Nick says, check they have all the paperwork. I'd be surprised if you could just set up a training centre for 25+ people with catering, swimming pool without going through a lot of bureaucratic hoops. You may need to ask at the prefecture if the mairie won't help. Do you have a contact for your former neighbours? If so, do they know what their house is being used for?
What would the Americans do in this situation? Send in a SWAT team or drop bombs on them.....
If they are renting it - why not speak to the actual owners (with whom you were presumably friendly) and ask them a. In the rental agreement can the new occupants run a business ? b. Can the owners put pressure on the occupants to curb the noise or risk losing their tenancy ?
Hi Mark. I think Nick has given you some really useful information, with more to come, and I'm just stopping by to echo what he said - lots of members here who may have some good ideas, or just listen - like me!
Have a look at this comment on the FB page Mark, sound advice too, maybe not the bagpipes bit! https://www.facebook.com/survivefrance/posts/484894158194795?notif_t=share_comment
Hi,
My first piece of advice is to remain calm and I realise that may not be easy when you are living on top of the problem. Look at all the angles and develop a rational solution. Dialogue may even be the way.
On a technical basis, I have sent an e-mail to an acoustician we use on a regular basis and he is going to send me the relevent statutory text (Décret).
His initial advice is that it is relative and that it is based on the duration. Normally measures are taken in the absence of noise and when there is noise, then the difference between the two is measured. You can even take the measures yourself with a simple i-phone app. I know that for quick reference my acoustician uses these apps to obtain a snapshot view of noise levels, so they are quite viable.
That difference then has an acceptable duration allowable before it is deemed a nuisance. He also mentioned that there are certain frequencies that have a greater tolerance than others. What I'll do is go through the text when I receive it and give you something more concrete.
Other options that other people on here may be able to advise on are such questions as the legality of the business, swimming pool having the correct security measures, food prep and maintaining the correct temperatures etc ad infinitum.
Lastly - don't feel lost, there are loads of people on here who will offer advice or even simply listen to your problem. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that good stuff.