Brush clearing

From 1 Jan. 2025

Real estate: the obligation to inform about the risk of forest fires is extended

Publié le 24 mai 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

In areas particularly prone to forest and vegetation fires, owners are required to clear their land and maintain it in a scrub-free state. As of 1er January 2025, buyers and tenants of real estate located in an area subject to this obligation will have to be informed at each stage of the sale or rental, and this as soon as the real estate announcement.

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Real estate owners must provide their buyers and tenants with a balance sheet of the risks to which the housing is exposed (natural, mining, technological, seismic...). This Risk Statement should also be provided, starting on 1er January 2025, if the dwelling in question is located in one of the areas where the obligation to clear and maintain the brush in the cleared state. This obligation is linked to the exposure of a territory to forest and vegetation fires.

The risk status must be reset to:

  • to the potential tenant on 1re a visit to the dwelling (if such a visit is organized), then it must be annexed to the lease when the lease is concluded;
  • to the potential purchaser on 1re a visit to the dwelling (if such a visit takes place), then it must be annexed to the promise of sale, the deed of sale or the preliminary contract in the event of a sale in the future state of completion.

Furthermore, in any advertisement for the sale or lease of a property which is the subject of a risk statement, it must be stated: ‘information on the risks to which this property is exposed is available on the Georisques website’.

On Georisques.gouv.fr, will be available for consultation from 1er by January 2025:

  • an information sheet on brush-clearing obligations;
  • a map of areas subject to a brush clearing and maintenance obligation.

A national map analyzing the foreseeable risk of forest and vegetation fires will also have to be developed by 31 December 2026 and made available on the Georisques site.

On the basis of this map, among other things, a decree will draw up a list of municipalities exposed to a high or very high risk of forest and vegetation fires.

Please note

At present, in the case of sale or lease (or renewal of a lease), the obligation to clear the land or to keep it in a brushed state must already appear at least in the promise of sale and the bill of sale, or in the lease.

Reminder

Brush clearing consists in reducing plant materials of any nature (grass, branching, leaves...) to reduce the intensity of fires and slow their spread. This may involve, for example, pruning trees or shrubs or removing cutting residues (branching, grass...). Prefects determine the conditions for carrying out clearing according to the nature of the risks in the territory in question.

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