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Looking for advice for France - ateliers

 
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Hi,
My soon to be wife and I (Dutch and Irish) would like to start a family in France and bring our small business involving horses and tourism.

Ideally we would like to live off-grid on mountainous agricultural land greater than 5 hectares in size.

Would anyone have any advice to offer on this project? I have seen some posters mention that it's legal to build dwellings under 20m2 called "ateliers" but I can't seem to find any further info on them online.

Thanks for reading.

 
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I looked up "ateliers" which are studios of workshops.

My suggestion would be to find the land first as you might be able to find something that already has a studio or workshop.

Then once you have the land if you need a dwelling then design what you want and decide what type of construction that you want.

Here are some threads that you or others might find interesting:

https://permies.com/t/204046/designed-small-house-life-simpler

https://permies.com/t/161494/Voluntary-Simplicity
 
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You can build a 20 m2 building in France without architect plans and major planning permission.  However, you will still need some permit of some kind, even if it is just a "declaration de travaux" and probably only if it is permitted to build on this particular piece of land.  Of course, all will depend on what your situation is and will vary from place to place. Inevitably you will have to deal with the dreaded French bureaucracy - no escape there!

Mountainous regions, especially in high pasture lands have their own laws and unless the land you buy already has a CU (certificat d'urbanisme) i.e sold with and existing building permit, you will find it quite impossible to acquire one.  There is rarely a building permit given.  If the land has a building on it already like an old barn or some such, then it is slightly different, although you still have to go by the "loi de la montagne" regarding abandoned and crumbling barns and their usage.  It will also, in some cases, very much depends on the Maire of the commune in which the land is.

Speaking French will be a tremendous advantage.  And if you are looking for a mountainous region, I would suggest that the Pyrenees will be slightly more accommodating than the Alps.
 
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