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“For me, it’s relentlessness. And I don’t understand why.” Fabien Legrand and his wife Nawel do not understand why the Clairoix town hall refuses his request to create an entrance at the back of his garden overlooking Impasse Bourin. This involves breaking through the fence wall of your property, in order to exit on the side of the new district known as Tambouraines.
Living at 5 rue de la Poste, the Legrands would like to benefit from an exit at the back of their home, because rue de la Poste is too narrow for our vehicles. “Particularly with the parking spaces distributed on both sides of the street,” says Fabien Legrand. He moved in in 1994.
“I requested this authorization from the town hall seven years ago,” breathes Fabien Legrand, former candidate for mayor in 1995. The administrative court rendered a decision in our favor. The mayor has exhausted all appeals. And despite everything, we have just received a summons to stop the work, coming from the town hall.”



The municipality brought in a surveyor to determine who owns the wall.
This decision of the administrative court fell on May 17, 2024. The town hall is even obliged to pay €2,000 for the legal costs of its constituents. Fabien Legrand said he let four months pass before bringing down the stone wall. Work started on October 26. Three days later, the town hall sent him this summons to stop the work, even though the work is far from finished. “I called the court, which confirmed to me that I was within my rights, then my lawyer,” continues Fabien Legrand. But I preferred, out of prudence, to stop the work.” After seven years of procedure, it is no longer a few months…
On November 20, a surveyor came at the request of the town hall. “He came to define who owns the wall,” he told us, continues Fabien Legrand. I don’t understand. The wall has always belonged to me. And then, why didn’t he do it before?” The spouses refused to sign the deed.
On this subject, justice indicates, on December 30, 2019: “The administrative court annulled the town hall’s decree and censored it on the grounds, which is the necessary support for the annulment system, that Mr. Legrand was the owner of this wall .”
“This portal would constitute a visual break”
“My intention was to secure entry to my home, without causing difficulty to anyone,” he has just written to the mayor. And even less to the neighbors of private plots, whose reactions express a form of discontent. As if the entire subdivision belonged to them, while the other tenants expressed their support for me.”
According to Fabien Legrand, the town hall justifies its position by evoking the “visual rupture” that the drilling of this wall would cause, within the classified perimeter of the church. In this recent letter, he asks the mayor to indicate the calls for tenders which allowed these private owners to purchase land to be built on a space reserved for a social housing development (the Tambouraines district). “One of the two owners, whose house is the largest and obscures my view (visual break), is the mother of the town planning assistant at the time,” he recalls.
Still in this letter, he asks the mayor to detail the cost of the “useless” procedures against him. “Especially in this period of sobriety where priority should not be given to wasting public money…”
The Legrands plan to run for municipal elections
Fabien Legrand recalls running for municipal elections in 1995, at the time of René Marsigny. “We wanted to make a list for 2020,” say the Legrand couple. We had people, but people withdrew for fear of reprisals. Someone was waiting for a building permit and was afraid they wouldn’t get it.”
After their three judgments in their favor, and this new administrative adventure, the couple plans to attack the town hall for abusive procedure.
Beyond their disagreement, they are thinking about the 2026 municipal elections. “We promised Mr. Portebois that we were going to run again, just to spark the debate necessary for democracy,” says his wife Nawel. And show that we are looking for a new mayor who is fair and attentive.”
“If the wall collapses, who is responsible?” retorts the mayor

“My role is to defend all fellow citizens without exception,” says Laurent Portebois, mayor of Clairoix since 2000. He has prepared his list of arguments to explain his position concerning the surrounding wall in which the Legrands want to create a entrance.
The mayor explains that the opening of Impasse Bourin is part of the rehabilitation of the town center “enabling the integration of shops and postal services, with much appreciated parking”. The rubble wall, which runs along three properties, borders this connection to the town center. The mayor ordered the work to stop for safety and liability reasons: “If the wall collapses after the hole. Who is responsible? I defend the interests of the community.”
Who owns the wall?
According to Laurent Portebois, Fabien Legrand wrote on February 10, 2009 to the surveyor at the time, commissioned as part of the development of the new district, that “as you will see from reading my attached property deed, the wall that you describe as “adjoining” actually belongs to Mr. Dechasse or his representatives.”
However, the mayor is surprised, Fabien Legrand submitted on July 17, 2017 a request for work authorization for the opening of a fence gate in an existing wall. “While, still following the terms of this same correspondence, this resident wrote “I have already explained at the town hall that I decline all responsibility for this wall which demarcates my property with the land that you demarcate. There is no question that I will contribute to the costs necessary for its renovation.”
In the eyes of the mayor, Fabien Legrand officially said that the wall did not belong to him. This is why the municipality confirmed to Fabien Legrand on February 23, 2009 that it would “take charge of repairing the wall on the pedestrian access road side of the town center to avoid any risk of subsidence”.
Why doesn’t the mayor let Fabien Legrand build his gate?
“The owner refers to the judgments of various courts which rejected the municipality,” indicates the mayor. The municipality based its refusals on these requests on the opinion given by the architect of Bâtiments de France and the ownership of the wall.
To comply with the judgment, the municipality issued an order of non-opposition to the prior declaration of work dated June 14, 2024. “But this authorization did not prejudice the rights of third parties and in particular any owner of the wall,” recalls the mayor.
“Without waiting for the amicable demarcation, he started the work”
On the advice of the lawyer, the municipality unanimously decided to carry out an amicable demarcation of the plots in order to determine the owner of the wall. “We therefore commissioned an expert surveyor who extensively researched the archival documents necessary for a conclusion,” continues the mayor. He carried out on-site measurements, the Legrands being unable to ignore this. He arranged an amicable demarcation meeting for them on November 4. “Following Mr. Legrand’s cancellation, a new summons was set for November 20 in accordance with his schedule,” continues the mayor.
“Without waiting for the results of this amicable demarcation, the administrator began work to demolish the wall on the weekend of October 26, while these people were aware of the date of November 4 defined together,” notes the mayor. The municipality therefore mandated a bailiff to issue a summons to stop the work since the ownership of the wall had not yet been defined.”
On November 20, the amicable demarcation took place in the presence of the parties who signed the report drawn up by the expert surveyor establishing the ownership of the wall in the municipality. “Only Mr. and Mrs. Legrand refused to sign the act,” said the mayor. They are free to bring in an expert surveyor to prove that the wall is theirs.”
“I have nothing against Mr. and Mrs. Legrand”
It will have to be put to an end, the mayor agrees, after three successive tribunals. “We are no longer in the administration, but on the civil level,” he continues. The private communal domain starts at the bottom of the wall.”
The mayor assures that he acts objectively with the Legrands. “In May 2022, the municipality authorized work concerning in particular its gate on rue de la Poste, which has not yet started,” he indicates. Whereas Mr. Legrand had sent me a letter mentioning the dangerousness of the wall supporting this gate.”
“I have nothing against him and his family,” said the mayor. His mother sends me a greeting card every year. A few years ago, I encountered “neighborhood” problems with Fabien Legrand, his brother, and other owners or tenants, in relation to access to plots of land at Mont Ganelon. Plots for grazing horses. After discussions and mediations, everything was sorted today. His brother Fabrice even helps maintain the paths.”
The mayor says he doesn’t understand “why Fabien Legrand thinks I’m angry with him… I too have the right to think that he opened this wall to annoy me.”
“I will respond to the Legrands regarding the cost of the dispute”
The mayor indicates that he will respond to the Legrands, concerning the public sums involved in this dispute. But also concerning “the method chosen for the choice of buyers of the two building plots, located in the immediate vicinity of its property”.
Regarding the letter sent by the Legrands: “This correspondence implies a financial management problem. Elected for almost 25 years, with different municipal teams, we have changed the municipality both for the quality of life and the services offered.
The mayor recalls the significant losses in revenue (in particular due to the closure of the Continental factory in 2009 but also reductions in state funding). Laurent Portebois recalls the score 1.01 out of 7 (1 being the best score) for municipal management, awarded by the Union of Mayors of Oise in 2024, for the 2022 and 2023 accounting years.
The wall runs along the Bourin impasse which allows you to reach the town center on foot
The municipality negotiated and purchased plots of land in the town center of Clairoix from the Dechasse family in 2000 with the aim of:
- launch, through a social landlord, the construction of 9 housing units reserved for people over 60 years old
- sell two building plots to individuals. “Two people over 60 currently live there. They had to comply with the requirements of the ABF (Architect of Buildings of France) when submitting building permits, the sector being subject to authorization.” The sale of these two plots of land with a surface area of approximately 300 m² each, for a total amount of €140,000 following the opinion of the Estate department, contributed to the development of the town center, “including the repair of the wall, subject of the dispute. Laurent Portebois confirms the sale of one of these plots to the mother of Emmanuel Guesnier, town planning deputy, who became first deputy
- create a dead end link to the town center to access services and shops for both local residents and residents of the Tambouraines neighborhoods in complete safety.
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