Conversation of the buildings

Policing powers of the mayor

The conversation of the buildings notes, a priori, their owners. However, you can be resulted in intervening with respect to the buildings which would threaten ruin, of the unsanitary buildings and those which would be in manifest state of abandonment. Your responsibility can be then engaged in the event of absence or of misuse of your capacities.

> 1.Les buildings threatening ruin

Vis-a-vis the risks arising out of strongly degraded buildings, you must initiate the procedure of the “buildings threatening ruin” since:
- The danger emanates from a built building, that it is in the vicinity or not of the public highway;
(see EC, December 21st, 1979, , 30433 The danger comes from the poor state or a permissive waste of construction. It is not necessary that the danger relates to the whole of the ship; a partial fall is enough;
(see EC, January 29th, 1975; SA real of Nievre, 85417 The security is threatened, that it is about that of the passers by, of the occupants of the places or those which could enter there.
Only the buildings built and of all natures, even not intended for the dwelling, are related to with this procedure (see EC, June 23rd, 1976, Tony, 24119 Thus under the blow from this legislation the risks do not fall from hull slammings from cliffs or landslides (see EC, November 18th, 1988, Commune of , . N ° 39038 It is the same of the risks of fall of shaft (EC, January 20th, 1956, Prefect of police , 11594 The provisions of the items and following of the Code of construction and the dwelling are not applicable if the ruin of which the building is threatened is the consequence of natural accidents (see MT, September 24th, 1985, real co. of the Case of the depositions, . EC, p. 524).
Depending on the state of the building threatening ruin, two different procedures are applicable: a procedure said urgently in the event of imminent danger, and a procedure known as ordinary for the nonimminent dangers. In order to know which procedure he is appropriate to implement, you can proceed to all useful inspections to appreciate the state of solidity of the ship.

> 1.1 Procedure urgently applicable when the danger is imminent

First of all, you must address to the owner of the building a preliminary warning putting it in residence to put an end to the danger in a given time.
If the owner remains inactive, you must approach the judge concerning the court of first instance so that it appoints an expert charged to examine in the 24 hours the state of the ship.
You are not obliged to await the expiry of the period granted to the owner to seize the court.
According to the report and the conclusions of the expert, you must either continue the implementation of the emergency procedure, or to return to the implementation of the ordinary procedure.
If the implementation of the emergency procedure proves always necessary, you must take a closure ordering to the owner, in a given time, to take all the temporary measures to guarantee public safety. You can in particular order the evacuation of the occupants. If the owner does not carry out your closure, you are entitled to make carry out work of office to its expenses.

> 1.2 The applicable ordinary procedure when the danger is not or is not imminent any more

First of all, you must take a closure the owner to undertake, in a given time, either repair, or the demolition of the building.
Your closure must be justified and to indicate with sufficient precision which are the measures to be taken (EC, January 18th, 1974, Commune of Dufour, 82770 Your closure must also indicate the channels and times of recourse (see EC, March 20th, 1992, Commune of Arcueil, 157504 The owner will be able then to dispute the enacted measurements and to elect an expert charged to note the state of the building. This expertise will have to be realized at the day and hour fixed by the closure and in the presence of the expert of the commune.
In the event of dissension between the experts you must seize the administrative court which will appoint, under eight days, a “neutral” expert. Within sight of this new expertise, the court will rule on the litigation and will fix, if necessary, a final deadline with the owner to repair or demolish.
The court will be able also to authorize you to substitute you for the owner to order repair or demolition on the assumption that the aforementioned would be again failing (see EC, July 13rd, 1968, , 67255 It can also authorize you to prohibit the dwelling in the building.
It belongs to you to rehouse the expelled people of a building threatening ruin. You have for that the capacity to requisition a housing (see EC, January 21st, 1951, Auxiliary Compagnie for Industry and the Trade). The charge of the compensation for the owner of requisitioned housing falls on the commune.

> 2.Les unsanitary buildings

Normally, it is the prefect who is qualified as regards establishment of the medical regulations since reforms of 1935 and 1938. However, you are not deprived of any capacity as regards healthiness on the territory of your commune.
Within the framework of his capacities, the prefect will intervene on the base of the Public health code in order to take action in expulsion of the occupants of an unsanitary building and to ensure their rehousing, to prescribe the execution of work of setting to the standards or destruction of unhealthy ships, and to lead a procedure of expropriation of the unhealthy buildings.
You can:
to found a municipal medical regulation after opinion of the municipal council and the departmental consulting of hygiene. It will have to be based on the departmental medical regulation which it will be able to adapt to the local circumstances only by reinforcement of certain measurements;
(see EC, April 11th, 1972, Town of Caen, 78880 to ask the prefect to make use of his capacities which it holds of the item of the Public health code;
(see EC, July 1st, 1991, Minister for Solidarity, Health and Social protection and Mr. , . Nos 103655, 115574 to put in residence the contraveners who would not adhere to the departmental medical regulation and the municipal medical regulation;
to note the infringements, as an judiciary police officer, with the departmental medical regulation and the municipal medical regulation;
to order conservative measures in the place of the prefect in the event of serious and imminent danger. Within this framework, you can enjoin only the private individuals to make disappear the causes from insalubrity of their buildings;
(see EC, February 21st, 1947, and , . p. 74)
However, you can also order the execution of given work to them if this work considered is the only likely ones to put an end to noted insalubrity.
(see EC, May 19th, 1954, and , . THIS p. 285)
Are mainly concerned by this legislation the dwelling houses forwarding an health threat or the security of their occupants, by the load factor or their use. It is the same of the unhealthy small islands and the waste grounds.

> 3.Les real in a manifest state of abandonment

The procedure of manifest statement of abandonment of a building has the aim of protecting and to back up the environment and esthetics in agglomeration. It has a double finality:
to incite the owner to carry out a handing-over in a state of sound not to be expropriated well;
to obtain expropriation with the profit of the commune which will use it with a purpose of collective interest.
Pursuant to the law of August 2nd, 1989, can be concerned by the aborting procedure expresses the buildings or parties of buildings (built or not), the installations, the grounds without usual occupants, located inside the perimeter of agglomeration, being maintained obviously and pertaining to known owners. When the owners of the good are unknown, the only applicable procedure is that of the “vacant goods and without Master” on the initiative of the State and to his profit.

When you wish to implement this procedure you must:
to obtain the authorization of your municipal council;
to seek the owners of the building concerned;
to establish a first provisional official report noting the state of abandonment expresses related to the absence of conversation. This document will have to mention work essential to realize.
This provisional official report must be the subject of measurements of publicity: notification with the owners, display in town hall and on the spot for three months and insertion in two regional or local newspapers disseminated in the department.

At the conclusion of a two years deadline as from the measurements of notification and publicity, two assumptions can arise:
if the owner put an end to the manifest state of abandonment, the procedure tending to the statement of manifest state of abandonment is closed;
if the owner did not take any action pursuant, you must note by a final official report the manifest state of abandonment. You must seize the city council which will decide if it is necessary to state this piece in a manifest state of abandonment and to undertake its expropriation.
The expropriation of the building built or not will have to be realized within the framework of the strict respect of the procedure of common right fixed by the code of expropriation. The good must in particular be intended for a project of public utility aiming at the satisfaction of the general interest.

> 4.Vos responsibilities

Within the framework of the exercise of your policing powers as regards protection of the buildings, you can see your criminal responsibility and civil engaged.
Your criminal responsibility
As soon as a damage was caused with a person, and according to her seriousness, you can be continued penally for homicide and involuntary injuries because you did not use your policing powers in a correct way. It can to in particular be you reproached for not having acted face a building which threatened to crumble.
Your civil responsibility
If it is not proven that the use of the policing powers was, of your share, the purpose a detachable fault of the service, your civil liabilities will be always ensured by your commune.

References
Buildings threatening ruin:
- item of the ;
- items in , item of the Code of construction
and of the dwelling.
Unsanitary buildings:
- item L 3212 2 of the .
The buildings in state expresses abandonment:
- article 7 of the law 35 357 of August 2nd, 1989;
- article 89 of the law 75 147 of February 2nd, 1995;
- items in of the .

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