Quebec's court of appeal has decided a three-storey home in Gatineau, Que., that was built too close to the road  — much to the ire of people living nearby — can remain standing.

The judicial and administrative saga began nearly a decade ago when it was determined the house at 79 chemin Fraser in the city's Aylmer sector contravened city planning regulations.

The home's owner, Patrick Molla, had been given all the required permits to build in 2013.

But an internal investigation at the city concluded he was granted them in error, as the official who approved them didn't know the article in the city's zoning bylaws that establishes the minimum distance between a home and the street.

The city granted Molla an exemption in 2014, but residents complained the $2.5-million home was out of character with the neighbourhood.

In 2021, the Superior Court of Quebec quashed the exemption, ruling the City of Gatineau was trying to protect itself from its employee's mistake and head off any potential lawsuit.

The city decided to appeal, and this week the appeal court ruled in their favour.

End of the fight, says lawyer

In a French-language statement Wednesday the city said the ruling "closes a chapter" in the legal saga, but it would not offer further comment as a claim for damages remained before the court.

For the neighbours, the court's decision marks the end of the long battle because they don't have the financial means to keep fighting, said Yves Letellier, the lawyer who represented them.

The legal saga over 79 chemin Fraser took so long, Letellier noted, that one of the parties originally involved has since died.

"It's clear that [the neighbours] are disappointed," he told Radio-Canada in French.

"They invested lots of time, money and energy to right a wrong that the city itself admitted."