reste-t-il des places dans les cimetières ?
“The City has a total of 57,851 sites. Each year, between 50 and 70 of them are awarded, whether for perpetual or temporary concessions, ”we answer the town hall of Bordeaux. And thanks to the law on the taking over of perpetual concessions, the Commune has the right to take back a grave in the event that it seems abandoned with two required conditions. Namely, that the last burial dates back more than 30 years and also that no descendant, family member opposes it. Insofar as the Chartreuse cemetery is the oldest of the three in the city (read below), many concessions are obviously targeted, which allows the town hall to free up places.
Renewal of the concession
“The sites are taken over within the framework of the administrative procedures when the perpetual concessions have arrived in a state of abandonment or in the event of non-renewal for temporary successions. This allows us to respond favorably to all requests for concessions that reach us, we specify at the town hall. And this, even in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, 658 burials were carried out at La Chartreuse, 503 at Bordeaux-Nord and 178 at Pins Francs. And from January to the end of June 2022, there are 330 burials at Chartreuse, 305 in Bordeaux-Nord and 94 at Pins Francs. »
“For a basic two-seater perpetual concession, it takes a little over 4,000 euros”
However, if family members of those buried object, the City then cancels the repossession process and has a renewal of the concession signed. “To put a vault back on sale, it must be cleaned and the mortal remains contained in the coffins transferred to an ossuary in the presence of an OPJ (judicial police officer, editor’s note) because it is necessary to carry out an exhumation. It is the mayor who decides, ”answers a cemetery guard.
The price varies according to the situation
Once the concession has been acquired, the buyer can then modify it according to his tastes, with the intervention of stonemasons or marble workers, or even demolish it to build another with the exception of the chapels, which belong to the heritage of La Charterhouse and with which this cemetery is strewn. Many illustrious people are also buried there and their graves are protected even if they have no known descendants.
But how much does a basic vault really cost? According to Bordeaux Métropole (online figures from 2021), to buy a perpetual two-seater concession, dating back more than 30 years, it takes on average just over 4,000 euros, and for a four-seater, around 5,000. euros. The price increases according to the surface, the situation and the exposure of the concession: near one of the two main entrance doors with parking spaces nearby (Saint Bruno and Gaviniès), on the edge of a large driveway, on a service road, in a square, in the shade or in the sun, near a water source.