Protecting landlords from squatters and unpaid rent: kick-off of the debates in the Senate

Macronist Guillaume Kasbarian's bill was passed at first reading by the National Assembly with the support of the right and the RN.

Following several highly publicized cases, one of the emblematic measures triples the penalties incurred by squatters, up to three years in prison and a fine of 45.000 euros.

Faced with the concern of the left and several associations such as the Abbé-Pierre Foundation, Right to Housing (DAL) or Secours Catholique, Guillaume Kasbarian insisted that the objective was to protect above all "small owners who do not drive not on the gold", sometimes facing years of legal proceedings to regain the use of their property.

The text was placed on the agenda of the Senate at the request of the Renaissance majority RDPI group. It is all the more welcomed by the right-wing senatorial majority as it takes up measures from a bill by Dominique Estrosi Sassone (LR) to guarantee real estate against squatting, adopted by the Senate in January 2021.

In committee, the senators reworked the text of the Assembly, "without distorting it", essentially so as to "clearly distinguish the situation of the squatter from that of the tenant" who encounters difficulties in paying his rent, according to the rapporteur LR André Reichardt.

They nevertheless retained the possibility of penalizing the tenant who remains in the premises following an eviction judgment that has become final.

Housing Minister Olivier Klein hailed "a balanced and even improved text".

For the Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti, "it is not a question of giving priority to the right of property over any other social right, but of responding in a proportionate and appropriate manner to deeply unjust individual situations".

"Force must remain with the law, which must protect honest people," he said.

"Balance"

On the left, the majority communist and environmentalist CRCE groups are standing up against a text which, according to them, will lead to "a degradation of the rights of tenants and human rights".

"Tonight I will go and settle with Mr. Guy Benarroche", launched Eric Dupond-Moretti, "in a somewhat playful tone", in response to the environmental senator who defended a motion to reject the text en bloc.

It was rejected, as was that of the CRCE group, despite the support of the Socialists.

Communists and environmentalists had given their support to the rally organized last Wednesday in front of the Senate by the associations which denounce a "socially brutal law", "promise of a considerable increase in the number of homeless people".

In its annual report presented on Wednesday, the Abbé-Pierre Foundation estimates the number of homeless people in France at 330.000. That's 30.000 more than the previous year.

For unpaid rent, the text speeds up legal proceedings in rental disputes, in particular by systematically including in lease contracts a "automatic termination clause".

Activating this clause would allow a landlord to obtain the termination of the lease without having to take legal action and thus be able to obtain an eviction more quickly.

The text voted by the deputies provides that the judge may suspend this clause, but on condition that the tenant requests it. The senators have restored the possibility for the judge to automatically grant a payment period to the tenant "in a situation to settle his rental debt".

"We have reached a balance between respect for private property, to which the Senate is attached, and the spirit of justice and humanism which we must show towards people struck by an accident of life" , welcomed Ms Estrosi Sassonne, rapporteur for opinion.