It is now the nightmare of a majority of owners: more than 2/3 of them now fear that their property will be squatted. The object of this stress: the idea of being confronted, one day, with their home being squatted. Proof of this is: more than two out of three owners say they are worried about the possibility of seeing their property squattedaccording to the Ipsos study carried out for the company Vérisure.
And their fear is legitimate: one in six people surveyed have already been confronted with a squateither personally or through those around him. Temporarily leaving your house, going on vacation leaving your main home unoccupied, closing your second home for the off-season… Many situations result in temporarily vacant accommodation. A favorable time for a person to try to illegally occupy a property.
Between 6,000 and 7,000 cases of squats in 2022
But what is really the scope of this phenomenon of this scourge? Let’s talk numbers. In 2022, France would have recorded between 6,000 and 7,000 cases of squatsaccording to the UNPI, using figures from the Ministry of the Interior. For Sylvain Grataloup, president of the UNPI, the squat “concerns few situations”but generates “a real pain for the owners” who are victims of it.
Among the latter, Nathalie V., present at this event, who recounts this experience: “I went home and, surprise, my key no longer fit in the lock and the door was damaged on the side”. She notes that“there was definitely someone in my house”. “I stayed in my car, I waited, and when I saw her, I went to see her”she remembers. However, this interview does not go as planned: face to face, the occupant without a property title tells him that she was at home. The situation was resolved positively for the real owner of the premises when the police arrived.
These 5 measures that would better protect owners
The legislator has already taken up this subject. The latest law of July 27, 2023 aimed to better protect housing against illegal occupation, by increasing the sanctions against squatters. Even if this text made it possible to make “notable progress”for the UNPI, we must go further. This presented several recommendations this Tuesday, January 20.
First proposed measure: shift the burden of proof in favor of the owner. This would amount to requiring the person occupying the premises to demonstrate that they are in possession of a title deed. Second proposition: tackle cases that still escape current legislationlike the“occupancy after reservation on a platform offering furnished tourist accommodation”. The UNPI also recommends “make administrative expulsion automatic»which would aim to prevent the prefect from taking into account the personal or family situation of the occupant of the premises. And create a “automatic right to compensation of the owner» against the State in the event of its inaction.
Finally, the UNPI suggeststo prevent “any liability action” of the squatter against the owner. Currently, the occupant of the premises can take legal action against the owner for lack of maintenance or in the event of an accident. On this point, the Constitutional Council censored a provision of the 2023 law which introduced an exceptional regime of civil liability in favor of the owner. Precisely, this measure would have exempted the latter from the maintenance of his house and he would not have been responsible in the event of an accident. It remains to be seen whether these UNPI proposals will be included in a project or a proposed law.
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