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How the work of a sleep merchant jeopardizes a Courbevoie building

2020-02-20T06:08:56.608Z


Cellars transformed into housing, a weakened building, ten years of procedures, dozens of companies managed by a single man and his


It is a small residence from the 1920s, rue de Fauvelles, in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), 700 meters from the Grande Arche de la Défense. On the ground floor, semi-buried cellars have been dug without authorization to obtain sufficient ceiling height to transform them into three small apartments ... at the risk of weakening the entire building.

Rue des Fauvelles, Courbevoie. An expert appointed by the court considers that the work illegally undertaken by Andrzej Matuszak "weakened the construction". DR

For a decade, those who live in these old wet storage rooms have not dared to complain. And for good reason: the current occupants all work on construction sites, on behalf of Andrzej Matuszak ... the one who rents this property to them. "You can't find anywhere else to sleep," says one of the tenants in rough English, who says that he and his other friends pay nearly 800 euros a month to live in 24 square meters, with the windows open all the time because of the persistent humidity.

A situation far from isolated. In the region, 157,000 dwellings are considered "potentially unworthy" according to the Ile-de-France Planning and Urbanism Institute (IAU), particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis and in the northern arrondissements. is Parisian.

At the head of around thirty companies

Andrzej Matuszak and another entrepreneur, at the head of the companies NLB and Dalton who have long owned the three semi-buried lots (one of them has just been sold), are between them two directors of around thirty companies. Faced with these building experts, the other co-owners of this residence are struggling to assert their rights.

One of the three cellars belonging to Dalton, unoccupied since a prefectural decree of 2009 which considered "this room unfit for habitation", is being renovated, without authorization.

The prefectural order of 2009

A prefectural decree from 2009 declared one of the lots owned by Andrzej Matuszak "unfit for habitation".

Next door, on October 1, 2019, a 3-year-old child, already followed for respiratory problems, was taken to the hospital after being subjected to violence. This episode led the ARS (regional health agency) to take an interest in this second "storage room" which "was declared unsanitary on January 31, 2020" according to the town hall, after ten years of rental.

"These sleep merchants are real pros"

"We have been fighting in vain against these sleep merchants for over ten years, but they are real pros", sigh the co-owners who fear for the solidity of their residence. In 2011, an expert mandated by the Nanterre tribunal de grande instance had indicated that "the nonconforming work" on the wall and the foundations of these storage rooms "weakened the construction".

Extract from the expert report

The conclusions of the expert appointed by the court are final: "The work carried out is not in conformity".

But after more than 50,000 euros in attorneys' fees incurred by the co-owners, a victory obtained in 2017 with the court of appeal requiring work to restore the soil that had been dug, nothing was handed over to the standards. Supporting photos, the expert noted however that in these cellars "the ground and the concrete slab had been dug by 39 cm, in order to obtain a sufficient height under ceiling".

"The ground and the concrete slab had been dug 39 cm, in order to obtain a sufficient height under ceiling", noted the expert. DR

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“For our part, without a complaint from the occupants of substandard housing, we cannot intervene, it is private housing, retorts the municipality (LR) of Courbevoie. A tenant refused to open us when we came. It is up to the co-ownership syndicate to take responsibility. We have no legitimacy. Regarding the building, we can only judge what is apparent from the outside. "

Alerted for several years, the town hall sent an expert in mid-February. This one did not note "in appearance of imminent danger" "But it is enough to camouflage with paint and one sees nothing", deplore the co-owners.

Because the works are constant in these cellars. "We just managed to warn the planning departments in time that the Dalton company began to want to enlarge the windows on the facade without warning anyone," say the other co-owners.

DR

DR

Humidity, dangerous electrical outlets… This is what the interior of the “accommodation” under the building looks like. DR

And all means are good ... The town hall has been informed of the owner's intention to "transform this cellar into commercial premises". In email exchanges with the co-ownership trustee, the owner of this 14m 2 storage room also says he wants to house a member of his family, without any financial compensation. "It is generally a first step to lift the orders," said an urban planning specialist. Another director of several departments in the Ile-de-France region during his career, another recognizes the powerlessness of the public authorities in the face of the best organized sleep dealers.

"If there is a good lawyer opposite, it is difficult. Everything is very subjective: there is no precise measurement on the sunshine. For humidity, it is enough that the owner installs a ventilation and one is stuck, he affirms. And then, you have to be able to relocate the tenants who are victims of these sleep merchants and the communities are not already able to meet all the requests… ”

"There are just two or three odds and ends," defends Andrzej Matuszak

Armed with their lawyers, the owners of the cellars on rue des Fauvelles muddle the trail. The storerooms go from SCI to SCI: Mechelen, NLB and Dalton, all of which have a common address in Paris (17th century). “No apartment can be described as unworthy accommodation, either in that which welcomes a friend or in that of the Dalton company. There are just two or three odds and ends. It is a move by the other co-owners who want to recover our property, ”says Andrzej Matuszak.

This is not the opinion of the town hall. “Mr. Matuszak's accommodation, which currently hosts tenants, should be declared unsanitary or return to its original use as a cellar. We will send a report to the ARS in this sense, says the director of services of the town hall of Courbevoie. We will not give up on these sleep merchants who rent out transformed places after having bought them at low prices. "

The address listed among the fragile condominiums of the National Housing Agency

The Nanterre prosecution confirms that an investigation is underway following a report from the town hall of Courbevoie. And this address is one of the 23,000 fragile condominiums listed by the National Housing Agency.

"My tenant, I want to clarify that it is just someone who has the keys to avoid leaving the apartment empty and that it is squatted," says Andrzej Matuszak, about the controls that affect his cellar, but also that belonging to SCI Dalton. “These shenanigans are incredible. These have been dwellings and no longer storage rooms for a long time. The town hall is biased on this subject. And if necessary I will attack the city. "

Ten years after the start of the judicial marathon, the end does not seem close. Because far from being hampered by orders and convictions, the cellar owners counterattack and have declared nullity in recent weeks for "irregularities and inequity" during the last general meeting of co-owners.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-02-20

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