We live in a house in the Gers which is situated 500 metres from the road and is accessed by our private drive. Our post box,which conforms to all relevant regulation, is fixed to the side of our house where it has been for the past 40 years. The post man delivers post by driving up the drive, putting the mail in the box without getting out of the van, turns round and drives off. Recently our regular post man retired and our mail is now delivered by a various post ladies. Today I have received a letter from ther local post office advising me that the location of the post box does not conform and must be resited beside the nearest road. I thought that if a post box has been in this sort of location for several years it was not necessary to resite it. Am I correct or do I need to re-site it?
Pierre
Hello
I don't know the legalities of it but I had to put mine on the road side (rather than on the house) and it's a pain when you forget to check it on your drive in! This was anew installation though. I don;t think you have much choice in the matter if you want to get your post!
Pierre wrote:We live in a house in the Gers which is situated 500 metres from the road and is accessed by our private drive. Our post box,which conforms to all relevant regulation, is fixed to the side of our house where it has been for the past 40 years. The post man delivers post by driving up the drive, putting the mail in the box without getting out of the van, turns round and drives off. Recently our regular post man retired and our mail is now delivered by a various post ladies. Today I have received a letter from ther local post office advising me that the location of the post box does not conform and must be resited beside the nearest road. I thought that if a post box has been in this sort of location for several years it was not necessary to resite it. Am I correct or do I need to re-site it? Pierre
The Laposte site says http://www.laposte.fr/particulier_pied_page_premiere_ligne_505conditions_generales_vente-_1861.html (scroll down to 3.2.4, La boite aux lettres).
Looks as if houses built since 1979 must have a conforming and accessible letter box, but that doesn't necessarily mean that those built before that date can't be challenged.
Cathy
The legend I have been told is that they are not insured if they are off the public highway. Friends who cleared a chemin rurale started getting post to their box as La Poste now had access via a public road
the box should be sited
en bordure de la voie ouverte à la circulation publique.
So I'm afraid you will have to move it, or face collecting your post from the local office.
All you need to know
http://www.boitesauxlettres.fr/05/0504.htm
It needs to be between 1 and 1.5 metres from the ground.
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