“It was like a plastered obituary!”

Arlette Kromicheff, an 86-year-old from Dijon, discovers one fine morning that she has to leave the house she has lived in since she was 18. This house, which she has not owned since 1997 following the death of her husband, was sold to a real estate developer. Her children are currently mobilizing so that she can end her days where she has kept all her bearings.

Arlette has been in shock since she discovered a sign saying “building permit” was hung on the gates of her house. This is the house of her late mason husband, who no longer belonged to the family since the liquidation of his business following a bad fall. Arrangements had been made for them to live in this house until their death. Georges Kromicheff died in 2015, but overnight, Arlette Kromicheff, 86, was asked to leave the premises.

We discovered this sign while visiting my mother-in-law one evening in late May.

Françoise Kromicheff, the daughter-in-law of Arlette Kromicheff

Arlette Kromicheff lives alone in her house in the Charmette district of Dijon. A house, built by the hands of her husband and decorated with a garden. The octogenarian has all her bearings there because she has lived there since she was 18. Caregivers come to take care of her daily. But one evening at the end of May, Arlette falls. When his son Yvan and his wife Françoise intervene to help him get up, they discover, stunned, the building permit plastered on the garden gate. “It was like a death notice plastered on the gates of the house!” exclaims Françoise.

Arlette’s family had been informed of plans to sell the family home, but nothing was to come to Arlette’s ears. Since 1997, the owner of the house, Mr. Eddajibi, had been receiving rental income, but for personal reasons, he wanted to resell this property: “I had all the difficulty in the world getting in touch with the family. I only had a mobile number on which I only had to communicate by SMS. In 2023, I was finally able to speak with Yvan , in the garden, well away from his mother. It was a long discussion during which I was able to tell him about my selling project.“, he explains to us.

Still according to the owner, the family did not want to buy the house from him.

At the beginning of 2024, the owner’s lawyer sent the Kromicheff family several letters in which the sale and a proposal for alternative housing were notified.about 600 meters from the grandmother’s home“, Mr. Eddajibi tells us.

“It was very complicated to find a buyer for this neighborhood house.” he adds, “I had no other solution than to sell it to a developer“, he concedes.

The sky is falling on my head!!!

Arlette Kromicheff, 86 years old

When Arlette Kromicheff learns that the house she has always lived in has been sold, she comes away completely stunned. “She thought she would end her days in this house, she believed that a lease protected her“, explains Françoise, her daughter-in-law. Arlette has a series of falls, no longer eats, to the point where she has to be hospitalized. Doctors diagnose her with physical and psychological deterioration caused by strong reactive anxiety. She begins currently in a rest home in Côte-d’Or.

Since Arlette left to convalesce, Yvan and Françoise now take care of maintaining the house. The opportunity to meet local residents who give them their support. “They are attached to this little house and its beautiful garden which is like a little island of greenery in the neighborhood”reports Françoise, who castigates in passing “appetite” developers in a neighborhood that continues to be “nibbled.”

The support provided is also numerous on the Facebook page put online and via the following email address: [email protected]