It took the owner years to reclaim her property, which had been occupied by squatters in the capital. Her happiness, however, was overshadowed by resentment as the squatters had completely ruined her neatly renovated and furnished flat.

Squatters cause plenty of trouble and headache, as well as significant financial damage to homeowners in France. The illegal occupants first single out, and then simply move into vacant properties and make themselves at home. Eviction regularly entails lengthy legal procedures but most homeowners are unable to rejoice at finally reclaiming their properties that are in a very bad shape.

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Despite new legislation adopted last December, which sets out to punish squatters with up to 3 years in prison and a potential fine of 45 thosand euros, there are still cases when the rightful owner of the flat gets the short end of the stick.

One such case is that of Emmannuelle, a woman from Paris. She rented out her completely renovated, nicely furnished studio apartment in the capital to pay for her own housing costs. When the tenant moved out, the flat remained empty for a few days and a mother with a small child decided to take advantage of the situation. She broke the lock and moved into the flat. Although the incident took place in March 2019, Emanuelle has only recently managed to reclaim her property, some two years later. Even then, her happiness was overshadowed by bitter resentment, because her apartment was in a deplorable state. A crew from BFMTV accompanied her to document the conditions in her badly run-down studio apartment.

Upon entering, she saw mouldy walls, broken door handles, shattered windows, and graffitied radiators, just to mention some of the physical damage to the apartment. She stressed that the squatters did not simply vandalise her apartment but also stole from it, for example a flat-screen TV and its wall-mount bracket. Saddened by the deplorable sight, Emmannuelle explained that the apartment needs another complete renovation and she must sell it to pay off her debts incurred during the yearslong litigation. Two years ago she bought expensive furniture and high-quality items so that she could rent out the apartment as a stylish studio, but everything has been ruined.

Although the court ordered the squatter s immediate eviction in November 2019, six months after the apartment had been unlawfully occupied, nothing happened and police have failed to intervene and evict the illegal occupants. Citing an administrative error, the prefecture claims that it was not until the summer of 2020 that they became aware of the situation. Eventually, Emmannuelle managed to reclaim her own place but she has yet to receive any compensation. She shelled out over 10 thousand euros on legal expenses and she also lost a significant source of revenue by not being able to rent out her own flat. As a result, she was unable to pay her own rent and was threatened with eviction. Emmannuelle says she ran up debts to the tune of 40 thousand euros.