in Marseille, the ordeal of an owner squatted by pimps

Le Figaro Marseille

The memory of the residence, a double house of more than 120 square meters nestled in the northern districts of Marseille, provokes in Juliette* a terrible feeling of bitterness. “My husband and I bought it in 2010. He lived there for his job. But after a few years, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer »whispers the sixty-year-old on the line.

Torn by her professional obligations and anxious to watch over her weakened husband, the owner of the property decides to rent out her property and entrust it to a couple in a difficult social situation. “A boss who worked for me told me that one of his employees was looking to rent a large house for his wife and four children. He worked well and was presented as “a good person”. I agreed to help for a year”continues Juliette, specifying that she even lowered the rent.

A furnished lease was signed between the two parties in December 2020. The first four months went off without a hitch but the situation quickly derailed. “At the beginning, they paid their rent through their family allowances. The problems started at the beginning of 2021”explains the owner of the place, referring to the debts accumulated by the squatters. “Today, I am at 28,000 euros in unpaid rent. I stopped paying for water a year ago, their consumption bordering on the capacity of a swimming pool. Neighbors also warned me that other people had moved in with them”lists the sixty-year-old.

Convicted of pimping

But Juliette is not at the end of her surprises. While researching its illegal occupants, she discovered that the couple was incarcerated for several years in Baumettes after a conviction for pimping. In 2015, Anthony J. and Chidima C. were sentenced to two and four years in prison by the Marseille criminal court for their membership in a Nigerian pimping network which exploited around twenty young women.

“I learned that they had been in prison. The woman even attacked me with a hammer in July 2023 because I had come to the front of the house with a locksmith to lock a garage door that they had broken down by car.adds the owner, who filed a complaint and resolved to have the squatters evicted. Justice ruled in his favor last April, after a long legal battle.

“My client needs to finance a specialized home for her husband who suffers from Alzheimer's. The tenants, who occupy the property illegally, raised a number of inadmissible arguments during their trial. The judge ordered them to leave the premises, return the keys to the accommodation and repay the amount owed.specifies M^e Christophe Jervolino, Juliette’s lawyer, with the Figaro.

The State is failing and does not have the means to throw people out

Me Christophe Jervolino, Juliette’s lawyer

This was without taking into account the lack of response from the squatters and the slowness of the authorities, who have still not removed the offenders more than seven months after their conviction. And the approach of the winter break which freezes evictions could further prolong the ordeal of owners. “Requisitions were made to the prefecture to notify the expulsion. We have a situation that is completely unbalanced: the State is failing and does not have the means to throw people out.”plagues the council.

Contacted, the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture indicated to Figaro that more than 1,100 recourse to public force have been granted in Marseille since the start of the year. 529 have since been executed with in the vast majority of cases “a rental debt”. Under pressure after the publication of Juliette's testimony by our colleagues at France Blue the prefecture finally took up the matter and scheduled an eviction with bailiffs for October 30. The illegal occupants, for their part, still refuse to leave and have even informed a bailiff that they would lodge an appeal.

“The eviction service told me that many procedures were delayed. We have to get our house back. I haven't been able to get in since, but I expect some damage. We still have a loan to repay. I had even written to politicians, like mayor of Marseille or Emmanuel Macron . But they never answered me.”whispers the owner.

*The first name has been changed.