What if mayors also had the power to evict squatters?

Despite the “anti-squats” law that has been in place for almost two years, cases are multiplying. The latest? The squat of a lodging in Nice, belonging to an owner who has gone to a retirement home. He will have had to wait more than a year to recover, at the end of last week, his accommodation, in a lamentable state. His house looked like a dump: urine, waste, cigarette butts, bottles of alcohol or even scattered clothes. For a deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes (06), it is too much! Philippe Pradal wantsstrengthen, within a legislative framework, the power of mayors» in case of squatting of a dwelling.

The elected official Horizons plans, for this purpose, to file a bill (PPL) in mid-September to allow owners to appeal to mayors – which is not currently the case – to intervene directly in the event of a illegal occupation of private dwellings, at the request of the owners or on the mayors’ own initiative. “I was able to see on the ground that the victims of squats will spontaneously ask the mayors for helpexplain to Figaro Philippe Pradal. Why? No doubt due to ignorance of the law or affinity with a local elected official who has the means to provide owners with a quick response and support them.. Yet the mayor has no legislative power to evict squatters“.

And among these means, the deputy Pradal quotes in particular the municipal police. Problem: few cities have it. The elected representative of Nice agrees and is counting on the collaboration between mayors and prefects to speed up evictions. “The intervention of the mayor with the prefect should facilitate the mobilization of state security forces“, adds Philippe Pradal who denies wanting to substitute the mayor for the prefect in this mission.

” READ ALSO – Should a landlord wait for the squatter to be rehoused to recover his accommodation?

The failure of the prefects, who are currently the ones who can decide whether or not to expel the squatters, is often singled out when files are lying around. “Some are dragging out cases arguing that the eviction would cause insecurity in the neighborhoodlaments Romain Rossi-Landi. I even heard that the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, for this reason, refused all requests for expulsion“. Other prefects are waiting to find accommodation or rehousing for the squatters before evicting them. Something to scandalize the owners who denounce an infringement of the right of ownership, provided for by the Constitution.

Finally, the police refuse to intervene because the squatted accommodation is not the home of the owners, in other words, the place where they regularly live. However, at the end of January 2021, all the prefects received a circular sent by Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, and Éric Dupont-Moretti, Minister of Justice, asking them to “protect property rights“. To believe that the message still has a lot of trouble getting through.

” READ ALSO – When a squatter refuses to acknowledge that what he is doing is illegal

In the PPL filed by MP Pradal, there could also be a strengthening of sanctions against squatters. Currently, the latter risk only 1 year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros against 3 years and 30,000 euros for an owner who takes justice into his own hands. If the bill were adopted, these penalties would increase to 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. It would be the end of an aberration that has lasted for 7 years.