Day: May 14, 2021

I made a fairly early start and went over to the Mairie at Fleurac this morning. As I half-expected, it was closed with the door and windows all shuttered. However, as I was silently cursing my luck and thinking that I’d have to wait until Monday at the earliest before I’d be able to get more information on the status of my permis de construire, the door opened and the mayor emerged. We greeted each other and as he knew why I’d come, he invited me in so he could show me the ‘arrêté’ that I was talking about.

It turned out that things had become quite complicated. Les Architectes des Bâtiments de France had given a thumbs-down to my house because of its modern day ‘pavillon’ style ie not sit-up-and-beg traditional high roof Perigord, and also because it is in the shape of a ‘V’ and the mayor showed me their letter that expressed their non-approval. However, he had told them that as the area is NOT a protected area despite being one that Bâtiments de France have designated as being ‘of special interest’, as far as he and the commune were concerned, my proposed design was perfectly acceptable.

I said that I was not interested in the complicated details and that all I wanted was a simple answer to a simple question. Will I be getting my permis de construire? He said that yes, I would be, but as shown in the final section of the ‘arrêté’, it will be subject to certain conditions to keep Bâtiments de France happy. These are that I conform strictly to the approved colours for my facades, ‘menuiseries’ (woodwork, window frames, shutters) and roofing and that my roof has a minimum pitch of 35%.

I was fully aware of all of these and took great care to incorporate them in my plans, so I’ve already taken them into account and they will not inconvenience me in the slightest. So I’ll be getting my permis officially in about two weeks time, which is a HUGE relief. It means that I can not only now finalise the purchase of the land but can also start to make other detailed plans in relation to placing the caravan on it, finding a contractor and moving out of my present house.

Unfortunately due to the time of year and the steps that will be needed to progress the project, I can’t see any building work getting underway until the spring at the earliest so it’ll be in my interest to get myself nicely settled in the caravan and as comfortable as possible – ‘as possible’ being the operative words 😉