We made it to three weeks and one day (Friday 15^th Feb) before an email from the mairie!  We had agreed to email communication on the permis application thinking this would avoid any miscommunication.  Unfortunately all the email said was: “please call the mairie”!  So with my usual amount of trepidation I made the call.  The lovely girl there advised that there were some items missing from our application and suggested that we contact “l’architecte conseil”.  I told her that we had already had an appointment with the architect but she repeated “make an appointment, they will help with the form” – reading between the lines we’re pretty sure she was saying, “just listen to me and do it!”  L’architecte conseil is only available every other Friday so it was back on the phone to make an appointment – we were very fortunate and were able to get one for the following week.

There followed a few days of wondering just how badly we had messed up! Then on Tuesday (19^th) Marina Trevor knocked on the boat to say that the post-lady would be bringing us a recorded delivery the following day at about 10.30.  More trepidation!!  I was extremely worried that it might be the whole pack – all four dossiers! – being returned – how embarrassing would that be in front of the marina staff!

At 10.30 on Wednesday morning Steve headed up to the office and waited – (outside)!  The post lady was pleased to see him and Steve, in turn, was pleased to see it was just a letter!  So out came the computer so I could type it out and translate it – not wanting any ambiguity in my own translation! (I will return to this later!)

So, what was wrong with our form?

• The biggest and first point was we had used the wrong form – this caused a bit of a giggle as we had spent a fair amount of time trying to work out which form we needed with me deciding that we had probably used the wrong one – don’t have to say it, do I? Yes, I do – “told you so Stevie”!! It turns out that the form we should have used was far simpler!
• The tax section – we had calculated the tax applicable to the whole building, however they only required the extra.
• The mass plan – we had missed off the services (not knowing where they were!) and the trees we want to remove.
• The notice describing the property – they wanted to know in simple terms what we were planning to do to the existing buildings and what materials and colours we were going to use. We thought this was what we had provided?
• The facades and roof plan needed dimensions and a verifiable scale. However, the dimensions were there and so was the scale?
• Thermal regulations document (RT2012) – We had not supplied this as everything we had read put the property in a classification that shouldn’t have required it, because of the historic nature of the building.

And that was it!!

Thursday was homework day where we tried to pre-empt what we thought we had done wrong so at least we could show the architect that we had been good children and not just sitting patiently on the naughty step awaiting our detention!  Steve then went back to his old engineering days in a bid to calculate the U value of the property (the thermal performance).  He even ended up reading a 200 page paper on the thermal performance of cob!

As Friday is market day in Lanvollon we decided to leave a little early for our appointment so we could have a wander around.  We left far too much time as it was quite a small one!  The seven market stalls (three fruit and veg, one butcher, one fish-man, a lady selling sweets and the obligatory crepe van) took about five minutes to peruse! However, I was amazed at the size of the carrots – they were huge!

As we had a bit of time to kill, we thought we would pop into the water department and see if they could show us where the water supply ran.  Unfortunately the chap on reception was unable to tell us and the person who could was not in the office but he would get them to ring us – so far we’re still waiting!  Perhaps they’ve realised how useless I am on the phone and have decided not to bother!

Finally it was 11.30 and we were met by two architecte ladies and shown to a meeting room. Two architects, neither speaking much English and two English with no architectural knowledge and basic French – this could be quite interesting! After pleasantries were exchanged it was down to business.  Fortunately they had the same list of missing items as us and we started to go through them.

• Point one – the form. We showed them we had printed out the correct form now – yes, check, smiles all round. (This is going well!)
• The tax form – she explained exactly how we should have filled it in – easy!
• Point two – the mass plan. We had submitted this in five parts, some being extremely detailed, thanks to Alex.  This was far too detailed for them. They explained exactly what they wanted and even though we didn’t know where the services would be going we had to indicate where we would like them.  They advised that if we were to talk to the mairie, they should be able to tell us about the electricity as the vendor of the property is organising the extension to the network.  It was pointed out that Steve’s drawings did not match the main (Cadastral) plan – which shows two buildings of the same dimensions up against the road.  Steve explained that his drawings were right (at least in that part!!) to which they responded, with a shrug, the Cadastral is often wrong.  Steve had used a scale of 1:166 for his plan but their scale rule didn’t do that, so a complete re-draw was on the cards.
• Point three – the cut plan. This is a slice of the terrain showing varying levels to a datum point.  They looked over our original submission and couldn’t initially figure out why it had been queried; finally deciding it was because Steve’s measurement on one of the dimensions was 1mm out.  A slight “humble pie” look on that one. Another re-draw for Stevie!
• Point four – the notice. We had rewritten a description providing as much information as we could.  However, this was not what was required.  They wanted SIMPLE.  What we were going to do to the original buildings and what we were building and, as it is a heritage patrimoine, the materials and colours to be used.  Again, not too bad, just a simplification – a job for me!
• Point five – the facades and roof. Again too detailed and we had put all dimensions on – they only wanted dimensions of the new items – doors, windows, extension.  This is when things got a little “interesting” and communication faltered slightly.  What did we do wrong:
  • the windows we had proposed for the ground floor did not match what the architect feels is correct for the building – even though the two existing windows are square, this type of building needs vertical rectangular windows. We tried to say we were matching the existing (as had been advised in our first meeting) but were told, no – vertical rectangle. Ok.
  • The large gable end window which we had discussed in great detail in our first meeting to ensure that the design met the views of the architect. However she had seemed to have forgotten that and both said a triangular window in that gable end would not be acceptable.  We could however have an off-set vertical rectangular window (which to us looks far worse than the triangular one) so we have now decided to have a darker bedroom – not such a bad thing as there is now very little chance of me being woken by early morning sun!!
  • The glazed wall side of the extension – to get the angle of the sticky out roof bit to match the main property roof we had filled the whole gap with a pitched roof. However, the architect only wanted a pitched roof over the door opening, therefore reducing the ridge height – no arguments from us, we just pressed the ‘I believe’ button! More work for Alex!!
• Point six – RT2012. This caused some debate between them.  To be able to submit the first RT2012 form directly from the internet without the input of a thermal specialist the size of extension needed to be less than 50 sqm.  This dimension is not the internal but the walls and roof surface area dimension.  This is when they had to revisit, in their own minds, whether the garage was part of the extension or an original habitation.  If it was part of the extension we would have to contact a specialist for a report.  Steve’s ‘back of a fag packet’ calculation of existing materials showed that the extension, including the need to retain the historic nature of the building, would not comply with the current regulations.  At this point, they had a little tete-a-tete and reached the conclusion that the garage was part of the original and therefore we only needed the RT2012 for the 9.5 sqm extension.  Fortunately I was paying a bit of attention and asked if that then meant that what we had put on the tax form was no longer correct?  So we revisited the tax form and they agreed that the only part we needed to class as new is the extension. Sorted!  This does make us think that perhaps a full planning application shouldn’t have been necessary after all instead just a declaration prealable (works declaration) as the size is now less than 20 sqm? Oh well, it has kept us busy this winter!!

And with that we were finished, smiles and handshakes all round and us hopeful that we knew exactly what we needed and could resubmit quickly!

As I have taken to keeping a tape measure in my bike bag we decided to drop by the property on our way home and take exact measurements from the road to the property so that the mass plan reflected what is actually on the ground and not just on the Cadastral plan.  This took a bit of prodding with a metal pole to find the edge of the road – but we got there in the end!

That evening we contacted our favourite architect (Alex) and asked if he was willing to give us a hand again! Fortunately he loves his mummy and agreed to help.  Saturday morning, I set to work rewriting the notice and completing the form whilst Steve got his pencils out again.  As I had managed to get the easy jobs it was my responsibility to investigate and submit the RT2012 form.  It was remarkably easy – hope that doesn’t mean I’ve done something wrong!  Steve had decided to resubmit the cut plan as the roof line had changed and he could get his measurement right.  I was a bit unsure as I didn’t want to provide something that hadn’t been requested, but bowed to his better judgment!

The only detail we needed to clarify was where the electric is likely to be run to – so a visit to the mairie was in order.  Sunny, bright Tuesday morning, a visit to the bar/tabac for a coffee and coke, a chase-up call to the notaire (ooh, there’s a story I haven’t told yet!) and into the office.  With help from the lovely Stephanie, we were provided with a pretty picture of our electrical extension to the network – the final piece required!  Wednesday morning was spent putting the packs together, complete carnage in the saloon – no one would ever believe I used to be a well organised, efficient secretary, but I suppose all the offices I have worked in were larger with ample workspace – so there’s my excuse!

Being the pernickety person I am I wanted to check once again – with the original letter – that we had provided everything.  On reading through I discovered that we did in fact need to resubmit the cut plan and the only reason I thought we didn’t was because when I had typed out the letter to translate I had missed the whole section!  Perhaps my attention to detail is slipping!! I then had one of my blonde moments deciding that the mayor’s office was closed on a Wednesday afternoon and not checking as I would normally do!  This meant we didn’t take advantage of the perfect weather to trundle to Pleguien – that was a job for Thursday!

Thursday morning – grey, drab, slightly damp and windy and, for reasons known only to Mother Nature, Steve got the task and headed off alone – how I wish I was a fly on the wall during that meeting!  By the sounds of things though it went well – Stephanie having a wonderful booklet showing exactly what was required and checking it off (if only we had spoken to her before we started our application!)  So, within a week of getting the notification, we had corrected all the information, cycled 70 km (Steve anyway – only 50 for me!) and are now back to waiting!!

In a nutshell we got the wrong form, one of the drawings was to the wrong scale, a couple of measurements were missing, our drawings were too detailed and they wanted to redesign – not too bad was it!!!