It’s a vicious circle that Olivier and Laurence Yengo have been in for seven years. The couple were victims of a real estate scam when they bought a two-story loft in 2010, at 201 rue Jean Voillot in Villeurbanne, from a real estate company (SCI BOUL).
The lower part of the accommodation is in fact still considered as a craft premises, according to the urban plan of the city of Villeurbanne. A story told by Progresson August 12th.
Neither the managers of the SCI, nor its representatives, nor even the notary who carried out the sale informed the Yengo couple of this irregularity.
“It can happen to you”
The second notary, in charge of the resale of the property in 2015, did not detect any anomalies either. It was only in May 2016 that the town hall informed the new buyers of an infringement of the urban planning code. The Yengo couple was sued in 2017. The two sales were finally overturned on May 23, 2024, by a ruling from the Lyon Court of Appeal.
To date, the Yengo couple must fully repay the current owners, who bought the property from them in 2015, i.e. €290,000, to which must be added no less than €70,000 in interest.
“Hand delivered”
This Monday, August 26, Sacha Pasquali, a journalist for the show, went to Villeurbanne, to the accommodation in question, in the company of Laurence Yengo and the current owner. “The building permit mentioned a craft premises with an apartment on the first floor, so the notary was necessarily aware of it,” Laurence Yengo tells the microphone.
The teams of It can happen to you then contacted one of the managers of SCI BOUL by telephone. He claimed not to have received anything “personally” from the courts, which Laurence Yengo disputes.
“I personally went to the bailiff’s office, where I was confirmed that the sentence had been delivered in person,” she said. Julien Courbet also thanked the newspaper Progress for the help provided in this investigation. The August 26 broadcast can be listened to again as a podcast on the websites of M6 and of RTL.
