Jean-Pierre and Christiane's house has had cracks since the construction of a real estate program in the town center of Étampes in 2007. The couple have been rejected twice in this dispute which pits them against the developer and the service companies.
The latest episode to date, during the appeal trial last September, the courts ordered them to pay 1,300 euros in bailiff's fees. “What is unfair is that the case was not judged on its merits,” says Jean-Pierre, the owner of the five-century-old family home in Étamps, south of Paris. The law had changed in June 2008, the limitation period for individuals calling into question the liability of professionals has fallen from ten to five years, says the family's lawyer, who gave the couple bad advice in the first place.. The family home is the former presbytery of the Notre-Dame collegiate church, which is five centuries old, and is located in the center of the town.