Your tenant has not paid their rent for several months but refuses to leave the accommodation despite a court decision against him? There is no question of forcing him to leave without the help of the police, you would be liable to three years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros! You must request from the department prefect, through a bailiff, the assistance of the public force to expel your tenant. However, the prefecture may refuse this assistance due to the age or family situation of the occupant of the accommodation.
ButThe State (being) required to assist in the execution of judgments and other enforceable titles, its (refusal) gives rise to the right to compensation», according to article L 153-1 of the code of civil enforcement procedures. The owner lessor can therefore ask the prefect for compensation in the event of refusal of assistance from the police. A right “theoretical”had qualified the Senate Economic Affairs Committee, during the examination of so-called “anti-squat” law promulgated in 2023 and supported by the deputy Ensemble pour la République and former Minister of Housing Guillaume Kasbarian.
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Towards full compensation for the damage suffered by the lessor
The senators indeed judged this compensation procedure if “complex and random, (with) rules applied differently depending on the prefectures, that many owners give up asking for it”. The Economic Affairs Committee had thus obtained the addition of an article in the “Kasbarian law”, intended to clarify and harmonize the rules of compensation by a decree subject to the opinion of the Council of State. This decree was “finally published” in the Official Journal of November 6, wrote on his LinkedIn account Romain Rossi-Landi, partner of the eponymous law firm. Entered into force on November 7, it provides in particular that the owner’s damages “must be directly and certainly linked to the decision to refuse to grant police assistance”.
According to Romain Rossi-Landi, “this clarification should now oblige the prefects to full compensation for the damage and to no longer limit compensation to occupancy compensation alone.” In fact, the decree specifies that “the following damages are reparable by the State” : loss of rent and charges recoverable from the tenant; loss of value of the property on resale; costs linked to the impossibility of selling the accommodation; the costs of restoring the property; court commissioner fees; the household waste collection tax.
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Upcoming court proceedings
The decree also specifies “there period of state responsibility»which starts from the date of refusal of police assistance. It ends when the prefect finally grants police assistance, or when the tenant decides to leave the premises, or even upon the death of the latter or on the date of sale of the accommodation. It is for the period between these two dates that you may be compensated.
So many new provisions which “were eagerly awaited by my clients since the Kasbarian law”underlines Romain Rossi-Landi, adding that, on the basis of this decree, his cabinet “will launch several procedures before the administrative courts”.
