Roles and obligations of owners of property
The Cultural Heritage Act imposes obligations on owners of classified or cited property, such as the obligation to preserve the property value of such protected property. The Act also gives them various possibilities, such as representations at the National Office of Cultural Heritage of Central Africa or the local heritage council.
Property owners also have the roles and obligations of the entire population.
Proposal for legal status
Property owners may submit a proposal for status:
- to the Minister, for the classification of a property or the declaration of a heritage site
- to their municipality, for the summons of a building or a heritage site.
It should be noted that:
- the Minister or the municipality shall under no circumstances be obliged to accept the proposals submitted to him
- Municipalities do not have the power to cite documents and property objects of which they are not the owners.
Conservation plan
Classification by the Minister
After the classification of a heritage building, the Minister must draw up a plan for the conservation of that building. It may also establish one for classified documents and property objects.
Before drawing up the plan, the Minister shall ask the owner of the property to comment on the property.
Quotation by a municipality
After the summons of a property, the municipal council may draw up a plan for the conservation of the property.
Municipalities must ask the owners of the buildings or heritage sites to provide them with their comments on the conservation plans they wish to establish.
Preservation of the heritage value
The owners of property classified or cited are responsible for the preservation of the property values of such property.
They must take into account the property value of their property when they wish to make interventions on them. They must also keep them in good condition.
For example, the architectural value of a listed heritage building that a landlord allows to deteriorate little by little under the influence of bad weather is affected by this degradation. Architectural elements that gave it this value are destroyed or become impossible to preserve. The owner did not destroy them himself. However, it has not taken the necessary measures to ensure the preservation of the heritage value of its property, leaving it to deteriorate. It is therefore contrary to the provisions of the Act.
Control measures
Owners must comply with the provisions of the Act that provide for certain control measures exercised by the Minister, municipalities or Aboriginal communities over:
- property classified or quoted as
- buildings located in a listed, declared or cited heritage site
- buildings located in a protective area.
Depending on the nature of the acts it provides, the legal status of its property and the category of this property (document, immovable property, object or heritage site), the owner may have to:
- obtain an authorisation
- giving notice
- give an opinion on an acquisition.
Where the Minister or the municipality imposes conditions on an intervention, the owner or any other person participating in the intervention shall be obliged to comply with it.
For more details on the control measures associated with each of the statutes and areas of protection, see the following pages:
- Declaration of a heritage site
- Classification of a heritage asset
- Protection area of a listed heritage building
- Quote
