roymason

Hi All

Im new here and i hope some one can help

Im looking at a house to renovate in the contryside in France

It will be a long term project for me during weekends and annual leave.

The house in not habitable currently.

Am i allowed to put a normal touring caravan on the land and stay in it while im there renovating?

Also another question it needs a Fosse as non is present. Im budgeting 10,000 euros, is that about correct. it would be an item i would install later in my project

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
Some one more in the know will come along with advice on using a caravan on your land.
10,000€ is indeed the price for installing a new fosse in our neck of the woods, but others elsewhere say much less. Whereabouts is the land?

EuroTrash

Re the caravan, the only answer is to ask the mayor. You don't have the automatic right to put a caravan on your land, or indeed on any land apart from a designated campsite. But most mayors will agree to it if it's in a discreet spot, although they're less likely to agree if it's in full public view. You'll probably be asked to fill in a form to formally request permission but once you'll probably be filling in forms to get permission for the renovation in any case, what's one more form ! but do check before you buy the property that permission will be given and for how long, if it's a deal breaker. It's not a good idea to stick a caravan there without asking first.

Chris'nJulie

I know a couple who have been doing just that for some years, with no problems, whatever. The building they have been working on has now become habitable, but the caravan remains on their property.

grannybunz

A lot of peole seem to do it round here. I know of at least a dozen and in various communes.

guillaumehefty

Yeah as Eurotrash said, you should just ask the major. If your land is lost in the wild, no one will forbid you to put a caravan haha
For the fosse, it depends about a lot of thing : the place, the size, if you need a pump because of height difference ... For example, my brother built his new house last year, and he paid 20k euros for many reasons. But he was an exception, don't worry haha

Alexander79

Hi you can do that !

You have two situations in french here


the first:

You can install your caravan in your garden without authorization if it is a temporary installation, that is to say that does not last more than 3 months in the year.

In this case, the caravan must not be used as a dwelling or annex to your home.

The caravan must permanently keep its means of mobility (wheels, drawbar ...) in order to leave its location at any time.

the second :

The installation of your caravan in your garden is subject to a prior declaration when it is carried out for a duration greater than 3 months per year.

but if the caravan is in a garage or shed. You are quiet for the whole year. The authorities check the constructions on the grounds etc with helicopter flights.

Because sometimes you have painfuls mayors . After they look for caravans etc on non-buildable land

cyrian

Some communes have different byelaws because of "travellers".
Our commune has had problems in the past and has local laws regarding the parking of caravans.
Check with the Maire.

roymason

Hi

Thank you for all you answers and help

There is a Barn attached to the house that i wll be renovating

If i store the caravan in the barn and stay in while im there is that an issue?

The house is in a very rural area with only farms and a couple of other farm houses so quite out of the way

Kind Regards

scot47

Guillaume

Ask the major ? Why not the colonel or the brigadier ? Did you mean "the mayor" ?

dmu

Such a typing error by a Frenchman is less striking than "Marie" which many British people type out of ignorance either for the Maire or Mairie

EuroTrash

Roy - we can't give you permission! You need to check with the mayor because he's in charge of the commune and looking after the residents.

If the caravan's going to be there long term he might want to check up on things like how many people will be living in it, how often, what sanitation arrangements you have in place, etc. Most probably he won't fuss, but it's only polite to put him in the picture (IMHO). Most mayors wouldn't be bothered about you living there in a caravan but they would be miffed if they found out for themselves and you hadn't asked them first. Mayors like to know what's going on in their commune, it's their job to know, so that if another resident says to him "There seems to be someone living in a caravan up at X's old house," which sooner or later someone probably will because farmers have sharp eyes, the mayor can say "Yes I know all about that, there's nothing to worry about, it's the new owner".

Since you'll presumably have frequent dealings with the mairie over permissions for your project, I'm not sure why you're so reluctant to mention the caravan at the same time.

grannybunz

This is puzzling me too. Most mairies are very helpfull, especially if they think a property in their commune is about to be renovated. Is it perhaps you don't feel confident language wise?

dmu

@OP - you'll have gathered by now that you can't renovate a building, even in the middle of nowhere, without a Permis de Construire from the Mairie of the Commune. You should make sure you'll have this Permis before buying the property, and the local Mairie is the only place to find out. At the same time, as said, you can ask about the relatively minor issue of living temporarily in a caravan during the work....
Also, be aware that, if you do it all yourself, you won't be able to "sign off" such things as electrics and plumbing (both of which must comply with French norms)....