Le Figaro Nice
We take the same and start again.
In less than a year, a couple of squatters have managed to appropriate the apartments of two owners of the same residence, in the popular Saint Roch district, west of Nice.
If procedures are underway for their final expulsion, for the second victim the wait is endless.
Added to this is the fear that the intruders, whose nerve seems foolproof, will do it again, in another apartment in the same building.
The couple and their young child have been living in Jérôme P.'s apartment for 10 months, located on the ground floor of the Allure residence, entrance B. They did not hesitate to change the locks, as they did. ' had already done not long before, when they had put their suitcases a few floors higher, in *Charlotte's apartment.
Last November, the latter confided in her misadventure with Le
Figaro.
“
When I arrived there, I said to myself 'I must be dreaming'.
I asked the neighbors if they had seen or heard anything, but nothing.
At that moment, a gentleman arrived and approached the door of my apartment.
I asked him if he lived here and with great aplomb he replied '
.
His companion then opened the door, she told me that she had a lease and that it was a real one since she had been careful not to ''be fooled''.
That's when I realized it was going to be complicated.
»
Tired of the presumed immobility of the police as well as that of justice and the prefecture, Charlotte had ended up doing justice herself.
One afternoon, she had gone to the residence in the Saint Roch district: “
I knocked on the door, there was no one there.
I immediately called a locksmith, who changed my locks, and that's how I got my apartment back.
I became the squatter of my own apartment.
Inside, the damage was then impressive.
Exploded roller shutters, out of order hob, broken kitchen doors, torn radiators, holes in the walls, etc.
Damage estimated at more than 10,000 euros.
Considerable damage
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The next day, the squatters had therefore taken refuge in Jérôme's apartment, on the ground floor.
A property purchased under the Pinel law.
Business manager residing in the north of France, Jérôme was preparing to rent the apartment to a young woman when the couple moved there.
“It was June 24, 2022, I remember it perfectly.
My tenant was about to enter the apartment when she noticed that her key did not work.
The lock cylinder had been changed
,” he recalls.
Read also“No one protects us!”
: in Nice, several owners of the same building victims of a couple of squatters
Immediately, Jérôme tried to get in touch with the occupants, unaware that the latter were not at their first attempt.
“It was with the lady that I spoke by email.
One shot she was called ''Chaby'', another it was ''Sarah''.
She led me to believe that she had signed a lease with an agency.
She almost seemed in good faith,
he still remembers.
In the end I never got to see the document, she kept telling me that she was busy with work and that she had a baby.
“
It took the media to intervene for the situation to finally change
”
Fabien Collado, lawyer for Jérôme P.
Disconcerted, Jérôme requested the expulsion of the couple which was ordered by decree on December 13, 2022. The assistance of the public force was granted by the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes at the end of March for an expulsion from May 1.
“
It is now up to the bailiff to approach the police to implement this expulsion.
This file is the subject of a standard procedure
, ”indicates the prefecture, several times singled out in this affair for its slowness in making things happen.
“Given the prefect's lack of severity, the squatters benefited from the winter delays, which is however not customary in such cases.
It took the media to intervene for the situation to finally change
, regrets in this sense Fabien Collado, Jérôme's lawyer.
After a report, the prefect ended up granting the assistance of the public force.
The usher tells me that the couple should hand over the keys on May 2, spontaneously.
Read alsoFight against squats in Nice: “The procedures are much too long and complex”
“We are used to criticism like this, it is not very serious. Besides, there is nothing special in this file. He was treated with the same respect as the others
,” replied a source at the prefecture.
Jérôme is impatiently awaiting this new deadline, even if he prefers not to declare victory too quickly.
“I'm more tired than anything.
Fortunately, I have a family next door that makes me think of something else, because it's really absurd to see such laxity from everyone,
annoys the business manager.
The condominium could have warned me that there had already been a squat in the building.
And then in the meantime, I continue to pay the charges, do you realize!
I pay the bills for them!
Otherwise I am threatened with a formal notice... Recently, I called the lessor to go and see on the spot.
I was told: ''it's your accommodation, it's up to you to manage''.
»
“I want to play the game well, but I also have limits.
If in May nothing happens, I will adopt the 'outlaw' method"
Jérôme P., second victim of the squatting couple.
In a way, Jérôme regrets his investment on the Côte d'Azur.
“I especially regret having bought so far from home.
Otherwise I would have moved a long time ago to try to fix it myself
, ”he says.
Moreover, if the intruders do not leave his apartment on the scheduled date, he will not hesitate to use other methods.
“I want to play the game well, but I also have limits.
If in May nothing happens, I will adopt the 'outlaw' method”
, he warns.
Read also“They throw everything out the windows”: in Nice, a building transformed into a nauseating squat
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Le Figaro
last November, the condominium association of the Allure Saint Roch residence then ensured that everything was done for the owners.
“We act as trustees and not as police officers.
These two owners are affected by a disorder that affects their private portions.
We manage the common areas, unfortunately we can't do anything about the rest."
, defended his director.
The latter also recalled that a special general meeting had been convened last summer to vote on various security works for the residence.
Including the installation of a video surveillance system.
In order to make access to the residence more difficult, the digital code at the entrance had also been deactivated and replaced by an electronic badge system.
Not sure that's enough
.
“A month and a half ago, three people tried to force the lock on my apartment, probably thinking that it was unoccupied”
, testifies today one of the inhabitants of the ground floor met by
Le Figaro
.
For him there was no doubt: these were squatters trying to appropriate his property.
The same as with Jérôme and Charlotte?
Doubt is allowed.
The Pinel law: tax exemption for certain owners
The Pinel law offers a tax advantage (a tax reduction of up to 63,000 euros) to individuals who buy one or two new homes to rent them out.
The principle is quite simple: each year, the tax authorities pay owners benefiting from the device part of the amount of the investment.
12% of the purchase price for a six-year lease commitment, 18% for nine years and 21% for twelve years.
