"Yes, I think I will be the last one here ... I am not sure that I will be replaced once I have left." Slavica Nikolic, 66, has been a caretaker on the rue Duméril, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, for 19 years. Arriving here by chance, she became attached to her profession and became president of the UDGE, a union that defends caretakers. A profession that is clearly disappearing, with a drop of almost 25% in Ile-de-France in recent years (read box at the end of the article) .
Slavica's daily life is well oiled. Every morning, she opens her box at 8 a.m. "There are days when nothing happens and others when everyone needs something," she smiles. This morning, Slavica will be called upon. "We are going back to Paris this evening, and we saw that it was not very hot," explains an owner on the phone. Would it be possible to turn on the heating? Slavica notes, "Sure! I'll take care of it. See you tonight ! "A few minutes later, she received a message:" A package will arrive in the coming days, could you receive it? "
Hunting for stickers
The doorbell rings throughout the lodge. "Ah! It's the mailman! In this building, where there are around forty apartments, there are no mailboxes yet. It is Slavica who, door after door, distributes the mail. "I sort it in my dressing room and then I go up to distribute it," she explains. Since her arrival, when the Internet was in its infancy in France, the guard has seen the number of folds decrease, "but the number of packages greatly increase".
Slavica begins her tour. Knock on the door of some neighbors. "When are you leaving already?" She asked a resident on the eve of her vacation. Little by little, she disperses the mail under the doors or on the landing. Slavica opens her eyes and looks everywhere. On the bells, the fiber boxes, the elevator frame… “Ah! You see, there is one there! " What ? " A sticker ! One by one, each morning, she removes these advertisements displaying numbers of plumbers or locksmiths, often overpriced, sometimes pasted anywhere. So Slavica scratches to remove them: "It's every day! "
"We feel a little at home"
A quick tour in the courtyard, an eye in the trash. "Some people do not sort or fold their boxes, so there is no room after that," she said. On a staircase, she shows us the scotch tape she has stuck on a wallpaper which, due to humidity, peels off. "It has to be clean," she smiles. We feel a little at home, we cannot let things deteriorate. Slavica takes advantage of her tour to scrutinize every nook and cranny. His obsession? Water leaks. She no longer counts the times she entered apartments to cut off the water supply in the absence of the inhabitant.
"I go to the bakery to buy a baguette when asked, look for medicine ..." says Slavica. The residents, her neighbors, she knows them all. And knows their habits. A few years ago, one morning, she realized that she had not seen a co-owner, who nevertheless had her shutters open. "I knew his habits, I thought it was weird," she recalls. She calls the firefighters who manage to access the apartment from the balcony next door. The elderly resident had fallen. Burglaries, she was also able to avoid several, keeping an eye on the comings and goings. Her job, she sums it up in two words: "Render service." "
New year gifts, a lost use
They are also decreasing, as is the number of those receiving them. We are of course talking about New Year's gifts, traditionally given in January by tenants and owners to their caretakers. Optional, this gratuity rewards small services rendered throughout the year. It is customary that it represents 5 to 10% of the rent and be more than 30 euros.
However, this use dating from the post-war period has been lost for fifteen years according to Patrick Barbero, director of the legal service of the National Union for the information and defense of caretakers and house workers: “The new generations are facing financial problems which have worsened in recent years. According to a survey by the Guy Hoquet real estate network in 2017, barely one in five French people continues the tradition of New Year gifts.
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Iria has been a caretaker near Bastille for 27 years. When she started out, she received gifts from everyone in the building, sums in francs. "If you have 20 euros today, it's already a lot," she says. Unlike some janitors in wealthy neighborhoods, I hardly ever receive large envelopes. It happened to me only once, right after the changeover to the euro. The person had given me 300 euros but I think he had not converted with the francs! "
9,000 fewer goalies in twenty years
In 2016, according to the most recent figures produced by INSEE, there were 27,882 guards in Ile-de-France, including 15,903 in the capital. In 1999, there were 36,769, including more than 21,000 in Paris alone. Or a drop of almost 25%. Because it is common that the guardian, when he retires, is no longer replaced in favor of a specialized company. One way to reduce expenses.
"It takes, depending on experience, between 40,000 and 50,000 euros in costs each year per condominium," explains Claude Pouey, technical director of the Association of Condominium Managers (Arc). According to this association, the cost of guarding returns in Paris to 10.6 euros per square meter and 8.6 euros in Ile-de-France. “On a lot of 50 apartments, let's assume that it costs 45,000 euros per year, we are on 900 euros per apartment! "Explains Claude Pouey. These expenses take into account the remuneration of the caretaker, employer charges included, but also the costs related to official accommodation made available to the employee, such as property tax, work and sometimes even water and electricity. The highest expense after heating.
Outsourcing the household can be more expensive
In small condominiums of a few dozen apartments, where such charges weigh heavily, the position is then generally eliminated - often on the occasion of retirement. The lodge is sold, the opportunity for the condominium to withdraw money to do work for example. The household is then subcontracted, either by specialized companies (50% of the cost of the caretaker, according to the Arc) or by a building employee (66%). The abolition of this position must be done at the general meeting of co-owners and must be voted, as the case may be, by a two-thirds majority or unanimously.
But beware: outsourcing maintenance has its limits. "From 80 lots, it becomes more advantageous to have a goalkeeper," notes Claude Pouey. And the expert noted: “You have to weigh the pros and cons because a caretaker does not only take care of the maintenance. He generally does services, has a supervisory job, which a subcontractor or a building employee does not do. "
