The associations were waiting for him. The opinion of the Defender of Rights on the “anti-squatting” bill, examined this week in the National Assembly, was published this Tuesday. He criticizes this text, which intends to penalize squatters more harshly and drastically reduce justice times.
“The Defender of Rights considers that the reform proposal does not guarantee the balance between the fundamental rights of illegal occupants and those of the owners and opens the way to abuse of procedure,” the institution writes.
The Defender of Rights also considers that “many precepts of the bill are disproportionate and unnecessary attacks on the right to respect for the privacy of occupants without right or title.”
Strengthen sanctions
The text defended by Guillaume Kasbarian (Renaissance) proposes tripling the penalties incurred by squatters up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros instead of the current one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros according to the first paragraph of article 226 -4 of the Penal Code.
In exchange, the bill provides for the same penalty for anyone posing as an owner to rent a property.
“Strengthening the squatting penalty or easing eviction procedures for non-payment of rent are neither necessary nor proportionate,” writes Human Rights Advocate Claire Hédon.
The text also reduces the duration of legal proceedings, and establishes that certain terms that can be granted by a judge are now only possible if the tenant requests it by himself.
Upwind Associations
Although the bill is criticized, “this does not mean that the current system is satisfactory in terms of rights and freedoms,” the Rights Defender clarifies in her opinion.
Earlier this week, Attac condemned a bill that “criminalizes precarious workers.”‘ The association Right to Housing (DAL) unfurled banners near the Assembly on Monday: “Housing is not a crime.”
“We have hit the wrong target. France has four million poorly housed people. It is the housing crisis that we must come to combat, not its victims,” Francis Vernede, director of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, told AFP. in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Published in the afternoon while the parliamentarians were discussing the text, the opinion of the Defender of Rights made its way into the chamber of the National Assembly.
“I hope that the opinions of the Defender of Rights in this country still count,” launched the president of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, contrary to the text. The debates around the bill, which divides even the majority, will end this week.
Source: BFM TV
