A 43-year-old man was sentenced Thursday, January 26 to six months in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros for having housed seven people in unworthy conditions in Val-de-Marne.
Against a rent oscillating between 500 and 700 euros, two families, i.e. seven people including two minors, lived in a 9m² room in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés described as “cramped, confined and low ceilings, offering neither comfort nor privacy“Said the Créteil prosecutor’s office on Friday in a press release.
“Unbearable promiscuity”
This premises had been the subject of a prefectural decree declaring it unhealthy and unsuitable for habitation. These two families of Peruvian origin and recently arrived in France lived “in conditions of occupation involving unbearable promiscuity with regard to the right to respect for private life and to a normal family life“, according to the prosecution.
Part of the family had to sleep on the landing in the common areas of the building. Moreover, in the middle of winter the owner of the premises “put their belongings on the street before carrying out their brutal eviction“, According to the press release.
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Tried Thursday by the Créteil Criminal Court in immediate appearance, the owner was notably found guilty of “submission of several vulnerable or dependent people, including at least one minor, to unworthy accommodation conditions“.
He was sentenced to thirty months’ imprisonment, twenty-four of which were suspended and a fine of 30,000 euros. In police custody, he explained “having wanted to render service, while acknowledging having collected rent from the victims“.
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