A "
sleep merchant
" who had divided his pavilion in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis) into twelve apartments rented at a high price was sentenced to six months in prison Tuesday, October 6 by the Bobigny criminal court.
Read also: In Aubervilliers, the influence of sleep merchants
Ilyas Ide, who had his property confiscated, was placed under an electronic bracelet and will have to compensate the victims.
A sentence below the requisitions of the prosecution which had required eighteen months in prison and a 10,000 euros fine.
His wife, for her part, was sentenced to four months suspended.
From the end of 2016 to 2019, up to 25 people, including 11 minors, lived in this building, divided into twelve “
unworthy
”
dwellings
, with a “
dangerous
”
electrical installation
, without “
heating or ventilation
”, or windows in certain rooms, recalled the prosecutor during the hearing in May.
Among the tenants, a couple and their four children crammed into 41 m2, but also an 84 year old man.
They had to pay rents ranging from 500 to 800 euros per month, sums "
extremely high
" given market prices, according to the magistrate.
Income of 78,000 euros per year
In January 2019, the pavilion was visited by the Ministers of Justice and Housing, who came to present a device to fight against substandard housing.
The prosecution then opened an investigation.
At the helm, the owners had simply recognized the offenses of town planning and laundering of tax evasion.
The couple declared no real estate income while the rents brought them around 78,000 euros per year.
"
It is a sentence adapted to his age and his state of health but I do not know how he will manage financially with the confiscation of his property
", reacted the lawyer of the couple of owners Emmanuel Hemmerlin, arguing that his clients are tied to a loan for a new home.
In some communes of Seine-Saint-Denis, where a large population in an irregular situation lives excluded from the social housing, completely congested, up to 20% of the private sector is considered "
unworthy
".