The text proposes to triple the penalties incurred by squatters up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. “Currently a squatter risks one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros. But the owner who changes the lock risks 3 years and 45,000 euros, ”explains the deputy for Eure-et-Loir. The text extends the express eviction procedure, without recourse to a judge, to vacant dwellings, empty of furniture, for example between two moves.
Shorter procedures
In a second part, the PPL wants to comfort landlords in the face of tenants who do not pay their rent, planning in particular to shorten the deadlines throughout the procedure. “If so many owners ask for guarantees, sureties and supporting documents, it’s because they know that the procedures are tortuous,” says Guillaume Kasbarian. Two-thirds of landlords have only one rental unit, he said.
Among the testimonies received by the deputy, a sexagenarian explains that she wants to take over her apartment to accommodate her daughter, but the tenant refuses any offer of rehousing. She has to pay lawyers and works to maintain her apartment. “We maintain the appeal to the judge and the winter truce. It is normal for people who have difficulties to be granted a delay. But it is not normal for these procedures to last five or six years, ”said Guillaume Kasbarian.
“Criminalize the precarious”
Representing real estate professionals, the Fnaim welcomes “a better consideration of the realities facing owners and a rebalancing of the legislative arsenal hitherto favorable to occupants”. Associations defending the poorly housed, such as Droit au Logement (DAL), say they are on the contrary worried regarding this hardening. The DAL, which calls for demonstrations on Sunday in Paris, castigates a “tendency to see squatters as criminals as they seek shelter from the streets”.
