Planning restrictions for building conservatories
If we add a conservatory to our house in Brittany we can give ourselves a bit of extra space to enjoy our garden... but we would need to know more about any possible planning restrictions and, apart from the costs, if there is a financial impact. Can you help? J.M.
There are certainly both planning restrictions and costs to bear in mind for your new conservatory, or véranda/jardin d’hiver.
Contact your mairie for details of your Plan Local d’Urbanisme if there is one, which sets out basic planning restrictions as well as minimum distances from your property boundary and materials or shapes used.
In many cases, opting for something under 20m² is a good option as this reduces the paperwork as you only need to lodge a déclaration préalable de travaux with the mairie to tell them you are planning work.
This should be sent by courrier avec accusé de réception registered letter at least a month before work is due to start (your builder may help).
In many cases, for conservatories of under 40m², this is enough. If you plan a larger unit you may need a permis de construire and, for units larger than 170m², to bring in an architect.
Your new conservatory will obviously increase the size of your house and this will affect your taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière and may also mean paying the taxe d’aménagement, which now replaces other local taxes.
Question answered by Sarah Bright-Thomas of Bright Avocats
Tel: 05 61 57 90 86 - www.brightavocats.com contact@brightavocats.com
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