Moroccan Family and French Landlords Head to Court Over Housing Dispute

The case dates back to May 2019. Sami*, Leila* and their children return to France after spending years in Morocco. "I had cancer, the mother explains. I was making regular trips to France for treatment." As the situation became worse, the family urgently returned to France. During her hospitalization, she met a couple who wanted to rent their house located in the center of Cachan for 900 euros. The Moroccan family rented the house.

"The day before moving in, on June 30, 2019, my wife received a message warning her that the house was not habitable," Sami told the newspaper Le Parisien. "On July 26, the landlord told me: It’s done," Leïla remembers. "But the boiler, the radiators and the stove didn’t work. There were electrical wires everywhere and a leak in the bathroom. But we had no choice, we had to move in." The landlords try to convince them: "The house was spotless."

Signs heralding a war between the landlords and their tenants. "There were already molds. I told them: Put us in a decent housing and we’ll pay you the rent!," the father recounts. Faced with the landlords’ inaction, the family requested an insalubrity report in October, which was finally drawn up in December. From October 10, the landlords repeatedly summoned the tenants to pay the rent (tag in red ink on the facade of the house).

"One day, we caught him putting glue in our lock," Sami continues. "He planted the building permit sign right in front of the house to block the front door," Leïla says. "It escalated," summarizes Gladys Rivierez, the tenants’ lawyer. "The worst part is that the landlords did nothing about the required work except the two holes in the roof!" "For a year, I’ve done nothing but deal with these follies," the father sighs. "But now I’m ashamed! I’m making this a matter of principle." A court could settle this case on December 7th.

*Pseudonyms