PLU: the local planning rules behind every French permit

Who writes the PLU for your Riviera commune?

Either the commune or the intercommunality it belongs to. A plan drawn up by an intercommunality is often called a PLUi. The Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur has one metropolitan plan, the PLUm, that covers all its communes, among them Nice, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vence and Villefranche-sur-Mer. Cannes keeps its own communal PLU.

Plans are revised regularly, so a rule a neighbour relied on five years ago may have changed. A commune with no PLU works from a simpler carte communale or from the national planning rules (the RNU).

What do zones U, AU, A and N mean for your plot?

Every plot sits in a zone, shown by a letter code on the map.

• U (urbaine): land already built up and served by roads and utilities. Most Riviera villas are here. It's also where the déclaration préalable limit for an extension rises from 20 m² to 40 m².
• AU (à urbaniser, land set aside for future building): land set aside for future building, often only once roads or networks arrive.
• A (agricole): farmland. Building is limited to farm use and small additions to existing homes.
• N (naturelle): land protected for its landscape, woodland or risk. Expect little more than a modest extension.

Each zone is split into sub-zones (UA, UC, Nh and so on) with their own rules, so read the chapter for your exact code.

Which PLU rules decide your facade, roof, pool and AC unit?

The règlement is where outside projects succeed or fail. The rules that most often bite on the Riviera cover:

• Facades and roofs: permitted render colours, sometimes from a commune palette, plus roof pitch and tile type.
• Height and distances: maximum height and how far a building, pool or pool house must sit from the boundary and the road.
• Plot coverage: the emprise au sol, the share of the plot buildings may cover. Many coastal plans also keep a share of the plot as pleine terre, unpaved soil that rain soaks into. Pools, terraces and paved drives count against it.
• Trees: woodland marked as espace boisé classé needs a separate declaration before felling, and the mairie can refuse it.
• Equipment on the building: the règlement can set rules for anything visible from the street, including AC and heat pump outdoor units.

One national rule limits the PLU. The mairie can't refuse solar panels or a heat pump just because the règlement dislikes how they look, though it can set conditions on how they fit in. That protection falls away near a listed monument, inside a heritage zone or in a protected site. There the ABF has the final say.

How do you find and read your own PLU?

Type your address into the Géoportail de l'urbanisme (geoportail-urbanisme.gouv.fr) and it shows your zone; you can download the règlement from there. It's in French and long, but only the general rules and your zone's chapter apply. If you'd rather not, the mairie (town hall) or your contractor can tell you the zone.

For a clear answer in writing, ask the mairie for a certificat d'urbanisme. It's free. There are two kinds:

• Certificat d'information: the rules, servitudes and taxes that apply to the plot. The mairie has one month to issue it.
• Certificat opérationnel: you describe a project and the mairie says whether it's feasible. It has two months.

Either one freezes the rules and tax rates, taxe d'aménagement included, for 18 months. File your application within that window and it's judged under the frozen rules. You can extend it a year at a time, as long as the rules and taxes haven't changed, if you ask at least two months before it lapses.

What to check before signing a devis for outside work

The PLU is one layer among several, and your project must pass all of them. A heritage perimeter adds the ABF's review. In a copropriété (the building's co-ownership), outside work also needs to fit the règlement de copropriété and win a vote of the owners. A lotissement (a housing estate) may have a cahier des charges, a private contract between its owners with no expiry date. The mairie doesn't enforce it, but another owner on the estate can take you to court over a breach.

Before you sign the devis (written quote) for a facade, pool, extension or outdoor unit, ask these questions:

• Which zone is the plot in, and has the contractor read that chapter of the règlement?
• Does the chosen colour, tile or render appear on the commune's permitted list?
• Does the pool or extension respect the boundary distances and the pleine terre share?
• Who files the declaration, and does the price allow for changes the mairie or ABF may ask for?

For anything large, get a certificat opérationnel first. It costs nothing.

More on the PLU and French planning permits

• What permits do you need for home energy work in France?
• Déclaration préalable de travaux: the filing most outside work needs
• Permis de construire: the full permit for larger extensions
• ABF: the heritage review that sits on top of the PLU
• Taxe d'aménagement: the one-off tax on new floor area and pools
• Outdoor and pool projects on the Côte d'Azur