France building laws: do i need planning permission for a treehouse?

MUCH WILL DEPEND ON THE SIZE OF THE STRUCTURE AND WHETHER YOUR PROPERTY IS IN A PROTECTED AREA READER QUESTION: I WANT TO BUILD A TREEHOUSE FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN READY FOR WHEN THEY VISIT US

IN SUMMER. ARE THERE RULES ABOUT THIS, DO WE NEED ANY KIND OF PERMIT? For this question we are taking a treehouse to mean a fairly rudimentary structure built by yourself (or at least not

professional construction workers!) that people can rest and play in, as opposed to a substantial piece of accommodation. In the case of the latter, for example somewhere suitable for people

to sleep, construction must follow the usual building and planning laws and such constructions are classed as _habitations légères de loisirs_ (HLL), or light leisure dwellings. This is

more likely to apply, for example, to accommodation found in forest holiday parks. In the case of building a simple treehouse not intended for sleeping in or renting out, rules are much more

relaxed. We are presuming here that the structure is only situated on your private property and not in a shared or public space. Whether or not planning permission is needed will then

depend on the size of the structure: * A treehouse with a floor surface area of less than 5m² does not require any authorisation. * A treehouse with a floor surface area of 5-20m² will need

a declaration of work (_déclaration préalable de travaux_) to be submitted to the mairie before construction. With this tacit approval can be considered given if you do not hear back after a

month (or two in some protected areas) * A treehouse with a floor surface area greater than 20m² requires planning permission (_permis de construire_) to be requested from the local mairie

and approved before construction starts. If you are not sure about any points, you should contact your mairie before construction, but in the case of building a treehouse for your children

to play in, it is highly unlikely the floor surface will reach above 20m². If your land is located in a protected area (_secteur protégé_) or natural zone (z_one naturelle_), rules may be

slightly different, although these changes are usually directed towards construction of HLL’s and not to private treehouses like the one you are planning. RELATED ARTICLES: LUXURY TREEHOUSE,

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