In cases between owners and tenants or even squatters, it is never good for the former to try to take justice into their own hands. Home invasion, intimidation, moral damage… there is no shortage of reasons for the courts to have a heavy hand when dealing with owners in a position of force, according to the judges. This case which took place in the town of Évrecy (Manche) is no exception to the rule. It pits a couple of tenants who wanted to leave their accommodation on a simple SMS sent a few days before their departure and the owner who saw red at these manners.
As reported by La Manche libre, the 60-year-old farmer who manages a large residence divided into housing units could not bear that a couple of her tenants gave her leave at the beginning of August for September 1st by simple SMS, expecting to collect her last business on August 10. A totally illegal way of doing things knowing that the notice must be given by registered letter and that it is 3 months in a non-tense sector, like Évrecy. But the owner's reaction was just as illegal since on August 7, she threw all the belongings remaining in the accommodation in the dumpster. Even more curious, the tenants' car, an old Citroën Saxo, also disappeared after this intervention. On August 14, the couple filed a complaint against the owner.
3,000 euros in moral damages and 10,000 euros fine
Although the tenants probably did not make much of an impression at the Caen judicial court, the man in the couple was ordered to leave the court during the October 2 hearing because he was drunk. The owner was heavily fined. She will thus have to pay 3,000 euros in moral damages to the tenants, as well as 10,000 euros in the form of 1,000 day fines of 10 euros. However, the owner would have estimated the rent arrears at 6,000 euros. The latter would also have decided to entrust its rental management to a justice commissioner (new name for bailiffs).
