How do you find the PLU that applies to an address?
The planning document for an address can be consulted free of charge on the Géoportail de l’urbanisme, the national planning portal, or at the mairie (the town hall): it is a municipal PLU, an intercommunal PLUi or a carte communale. You read the parcel’s zone, then the rules for that zone and the annexes, including the public easements. Where no document exists, the national planning rules (RNU) apply. The mairie remains the reference for the version in force.
Three possible documents, and the RNU
Each commune falls into one of the following cases. The most common is the plan local d’urbanisme (PLU), the local plan drawn up by the commune, or the intercommunal PLU (PLUi), drawn up by the grouping of communes for all its members. Some small communes have a carte communale, a simpler map that mainly separates areas where building is possible from areas where it is not. Finally, a commune with no document at all is governed only by the national planning rules.
| Document | What it contains | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|
| PLU or PLUi | A zoning map, rules for each zone, OAPs (planning guidelines for sectors), annexes (including easements) | Géoportail de l’urbanisme, mairie or intercommunality |
| Carte communale | Areas where building is or is not allowed; the RNU rules apply within them | Géoportail de l’urbanisme, mairie |
| No document (RNU) | The national rules of the Urban Planning Code; outside already built-up areas, building is in principle restricted | Mairie, Urban Planning Code |
The RNU applies throughout France, but some of its rules give way to the PLU or the carte communale where one exists (art. L111-1 of the Urban Planning Code). In a commune with no document, the restricted-building rule of article L111-3 concerns land outside the built-up areas.
A house’s planning rules are read together with other documents, such as easements and extending a house. You can see how a dossier brings them together for one address in the sample dossier.
Finding the document on the Géoportail
The Géoportail de l’urbanisme is the national portal where local authorities publish their planning documents and operators their public easements (art. L133-1 of the Urban Planning Code). The steps are simple:
- type the address or the cadastral reference into the map;
- click the parcel: the window shows the document in force, its approval date and the zone (for example UB, 1AU, A or N);
- open the written documents: the rules for the zone, any OAP covering the sector, and the annexes;
- turn on the public easements layer, which can reveal a historic monument, a pipeline or a risk prevention plan.
Not every commune is up to date on the portal. If the date shown looks old, or if the portal shows nothing, ask the mairie which document is enforceable today and whether it is being revised or amended.
Reading a PLU: from the zone to the rules
A PLU contains a presentation report, a sustainable development plan (PADD), planning and programming guidelines (OAP), rules with their maps, and annexes (art. L151-2 of the Urban Planning Code). For a house, three parts matter first: the zoning map, the rules for the zone and the annexes.
The rules for a zone are divided into articles or chapters: permitted uses, siting in relation to the street and the boundaries, ground coverage, height, external appearance, parking, green space. The zoning map can add requirements for specific parcels: a reserved site, a protected woodland, a protected heritage feature, a frontage kept for shops. Read the two together.
The U, AU, A and N zones explained
What the document does not say on its own
The PLU sets general rules. It does not say whether a specific project will be accepted: the mairie examines each prior declaration or permit, applying the document in force on the date of its decision. Nor does it say whether the existing house was built or extended with the necessary permits: that is checked against past permits, which the seller or the mairie can provide.
To freeze the rules that apply to a piece of land for a set period, there is the certificat d’urbanisme (planning certificate), free of charge, which any interested buyer can request.
The planning certificate before buying
Before the compromis: useful questions
- What is the parcel’s zone, and is the document being revised?
- Does an OAP or a reserved site affect the parcel or the street?
- Is the parcel within the surroundings of a historic monument or in a protected heritage area?
- Were the works done by the seller (conservatory, extension, loft) authorised?
The notaire attaches the planning information they obtain to the deed; nothing stops you from asking for it earlier, before you sign the compromis de vente (the preliminary sale agreement).
For one address, the ScanAdresse dossier sets out the parcel, the zone and the PLU rules with their articles from the Géoportail de l’urbanisme, plus the public easements, with each register marked found, not found or source unreachable.
Questions to ask before the compromis
Frequently asked questions
Is the PLU the same for the whole commune?
No. The document covers the whole commune, but the rules change from one zone to another, and sometimes between sectors within the same zone (UA, UB, UC...). Only the parcel’s zone matters.
Is the Géoportail de l’urbanisme authoritative?
It is the national publication platform, but if in doubt the mairie or the intercommunality confirms the version in force. A recent amendment may not appear there yet.
What if the commune has no PLU?
It may have a carte communale; otherwise the RNU applies. In both cases the mairie tells you the rules, and a planning certificate sets them out for one piece of land.
Who decides whether a project complies with the PLU?
The mairie, or the department that examines applications on its behalf, for each application. The document alone is not enough to know.
Sources
- Géoportail de l’urbanisme
- Service-public.fr: planning questions before building
- Urban Planning Code, arts L111-1, L111-3, L133-1 and L151-2
ScanAdresse is a private service by SRI Group BV (VAT BE1037052239), not connected to any public authority: it brings together public data, with the source and date of every item.
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