Case Study · The Nearly-Done One
Aubin: The Most Finished House Yet — On the Most Loaded Ground
Every other place on the search is a wreck on quiet ground. This one flips it: a near-liveable 2-bed townhouse with a new boiler and no structural work — but it sits in a former coal-mining town carrying mining-subsidence, flood and landslide risk. The building is the best we've seen; the ground is the worst. Here's the full workup, and an honest score.
Aubin, Aveyron (12) · the Decazeville coal basin, Occitanie · ≈ 900 km / 9 hrs from Calais · ≈ 710 km / 8.5 hrs from Bern
Most of the search is cheap wrecks on sound, quiet ground. Aubin is the mirror image — the house needs the least work of anything we've found, but it's the one place where the ground, not the building, is the problem. It's the clearest illustration on the whole site of why you check the map before you fall for the photos.
📸 See the photos: view the full Aubin listing on Properstar → (opens in a new tab)
The free routine that flags a mining town before you drive 900 km to a "bargain."
Run the checklist →🔑 Haggling a Long-Empty WreckFees are on the seller and the ground has real question marks — both are levers on the price.
Read the guide →🚰 The well on the plotThere's an old well "to rediscover" — what a disused well is worth reinstating.
Read the guide →The listing, in full
The agent describes a townhouse close to all amenities in Aubin, near the thermal spa of Cransac-les-Thermes — "a great opportunity at this price." Renovation is needed but no structural work. Its energy classification "F" qualifies the buyer for state renovation aid. The house has two bedrooms, each with its own shower room, an open-plan living/kitchen, and a ~30 m² veranda as an extra room. Some windows are already PVC double-glazed with roller shutters, and the oil boiler is brand new. The ~2,000 m² of land is sloping and has a well "to be rediscovered." Selling price €42,000, agency fees paid by the seller.
- Price€42,000 (≈ £36,000) — fees paid by the seller
- Rates (taxe foncière)Not stated — a serviced town house, so likely higher than a rural ruin; confirm with the agent
- LocationAubin (12110), Aveyron, Occitanie — the Decazeville coal basin
- Drive from Calais≈ 900 km / ~9 hrs (the furthest we cover)
- Drive from Bern≈ 710 km / 8.5 hrs
- House75 m² townhouse, built 1921, 4 rooms
- Beds / baths2 bedrooms, each with its own shower room; open-plan living/kitchen; ~30 m² veranda
- Land~2,179 m² (0.54 ac), sloping, with an old well to reinstate
- OutbuildingsNone noted — garden + terrace
- Build / materials1921 townhouse — masonry, not a rural stone farmhouse
- WaterMains (town) + a well "to rediscover"
- ElectricityConnected
- HeatingOil boiler — brand new (asset, but oil isn't off-grid friendly)
- WindowsSome already PVC double-glazed with roller shutters
- Energy rating (DPE)F (228) — qualifies for French renovation aid
- Structural workNone required (per the agent) — refurbish, not rebuild
- Detached?No — a townhouse (attached); check the party walls
- AgentSAFTI (Laurent Mazars)
Saved on this device only — not published, not shared, and not visible to anyone else.
The good worth having
It's nearly there — the least work on the search
Two bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms, an open living/kitchen, a 30 m² veranda, a brand-new oil boiler, and no structural work needed. Some windows are already double-glazed. You could arguably live in it while you finish it — a completely different proposition to a roofless barn conversion.
Space and services, in a town
75 m² plus a big veranda, on mains water and power, a five-minute walk from shops and the Cransac spa. For anyone who wants a usable house rather than a five-year project, that's a lot of finished space for £36k.
F, not G — and aid on the table
The agent notes the F rating opens the door to French renovation grants (MaPrimeRénov'-style aid for insulation and heating). A notch better than the G-rated ruins, and with help toward improving it.
The bad why the ground wins
A coal-mining town — subsidence and collapse risk
Aubin sits in the old Decazeville–Aubin coal basin, and Géorisques flags mining subsidence (affaissement minier) and "generalised collapse" (effondrements généralisés) on the commune. That's the legacy of the workings underground. It doesn't affect every plot, but it means you must check the plan de prévention des risques miniers (PPRM) for this exact address before anything else — it's the single biggest reason to be careful here.
⚠️ These ground figures (flood, subsidence, radon) are official records for the commune — real, but commune-wide, not proof for this exact plot. Check it yourself: official Géorisques risk report (ERRIAL) → — enter the property address.
A serious flood and run-off history
The commune carries six flood/mudflow disaster declarations (2003, 2005, 2022 twice, 2024, and 1982), plus a 1993 landslide declaration and listed rockfall risk on the slopes. On a sloping town plot in a valley, where the water runs and whether the house has ever been in it are questions to nail down on site.
Against the brief: attached, urban, oil-heated
It's a townhouse, not a detached rural place; it's in an ex-industrial town, not the quiet countryside this site is really about; and it's on oil, which is the opposite of the off-grid direction. None of that is a fault in the house — it just isn't the kind of place the rest of the search is chasing.
DIY-er vs needs-a-builder the honest split
This is the DIY-friendliest house on the search — the catch is a survey, not a trade.
If you're hands-on — what you can do yourself
With no structural work and the boiler and some glazing already done, the job is mostly cosmetic and second-fix: insulation and plasterboard, flooring, decorating, finishing the double-glazing, a kitchen and the two shower rooms, and reinstating the well for the garden. On mains water and drainage in town you avoid the SPANC septic headache entirely. A competent DIYer could bring this a long way with materials and a van — very little of it forces a trade.
Where you'll need a pro (or a builder)
Less than any wreck we've looked at — but two things matter here:
• A mining/ground survey — before you buy, get a professional read of the PPRM mining-risk zoning and, if there's any doubt, a structural/ground opinion. This is the one expert cost you don't skip in a mining town.
• The electrical certificate — if you rewire, a registered electrician and a Consuel sign-off to keep it insurable.
• Roof check — 1921 stock; confirm the covering, though no structural work is claimed.
What you'll need to clear it the van
A T5-style van does most of it
Because this is a refurbish, not a gut-and-rebuild, the clearance is manageable: old furniture, tired fittings and garden junk. A medium T5-style van handles that in a few runs. Only if you strip out the veranda or a bathroom will you want a bigger van or a trailer for the heavier loads — and unlike the rural places, the tip is right in town (below).
Getting rid of the rubble — the local tip read this first
Nearest déchèterie: the Montet, in Aubin itself
The Déchèterie du Montet (le Montet, 12110 Aubin) is run by Decazeville Communauté and sits right in the town — a genuine plus over the rural candidates where the tip is a drive away. Open six days a week, it takes household waste, bulky items and rubble.
But — like the UK, it's residents only
Here's the catch that catches everyone: a French déchèterie is run by and for the local intercommunalité's residents. Access needs a justificatif de domicile (a local utility or tax bill in your name) and increasingly a registered card or badge, often tied to your vehicle. Turning up with a UK- or Swiss-plated van and no French address won't get you in — exactly like a UK tip. Professionals pay a tariff. So until you've completed the purchase and have a local address, budget for a private skip (benne) or a paid clearance for the first big strip-out, then register for the déchèterie badge as soon as you're on the council's books.
The score
A finished house with a well and two bathrooms — but on coal-mining ground with subsidence and landslide risk, not detached, and the priciest on the board. If you scored purely on the house it would be near the top; weighted for the ground, it lands in the lower third. See exactly where against the rest on the full rankings.
The verdict
The exception that proves the rule. Aubin is the most finished, most liveable house we've looked at — and if it stood on quiet farmland it would be a serious contender. But it sits in a coal-mining town with subsidence, flood and landslide risk, it's a townhouse rather than the detached rural place the search is built around, and it's the furthest drive of the lot. For someone who specifically wants a near-liveable town house with a spa on the doorstep and will get the mining-risk plan checked properly, it's worth a look. For the sound-ground, off-grid, detached brief — it isn't the one, and that's exactly why it earns its place here as the lesson.
How we judge every place
Same free routine, every time — it's what turns "a great opportunity at this price" into a clear-eyed 4.6 before you drive 900 km to find out.
See the search log →