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EYE OF 8PM ARRESTS OF DANGER
For several years, images of collapsed buildings have regularly made the headlines. To anticipate these disasters, town halls can issue emergency orders. In Bordeaux, residents forced to leave their homes but still having to pay for it find themselves destitute. – (THE EYE OF 20 HOURS / FRANCE 2)
For several years, images of collapsed buildings have regularly made the headlines. To anticipate these disasters, town halls can issue emergency orders. In Bordeaux, residents forced to leave their homes but still having to pay for it find themselves destitute.
On the night of June 21, 2021, the Huchon family was awakened by a loud noise, the two neighboring buildings had just collapsed. Chaos on rue de la Rousselle. In the middle of the night, events happen quickly, the family finds themselves outside, the firefighters evacuate the street. The Huchon family will not be able to set foot in their apartment in downtown Bordeaux for a year, before being able to return there to collect some belongings. Today, the three buildings near the collapses are still uninhabitable. But Xavier Huchon nevertheless continues to repay his property loan, 1300 euros per month in addition to the accommodation he occupies in the meantime with his wife and three children, a rent of 1000 euros, or in total, 2300 euros in monthly charges. In a financial impasse, Xavier Huchon does not despair of being helped.
“It’s a financial nightmare, I can’t deprive myself of the hope that one day or another, the State, Bordeaux Métropole or the insurance companies will not compensate for my loss. It’s unimaginable !”
More than two and a half years after the disaster on rue de la Rousselle, the insurance companies have still not compensated the families, no causes of the collapses, no those responsible. In the meantime, the Huchons, collateral victims of rue de la Rousselle, are plunged into waiting. As compensation, a check for €250 from the municipal social action center the day after the disaster. Far from covering the credit they continue to pay for their apartment purchased in 2017.
A legal vacuum around resident owners
Danger orders are issued by a town hall to prevent a dangerous situation in a building. Clearly, when the municipality is alerted to a fragile building, a damaged roof, a rickety wall, it can publish a danger order and make the accommodation uninhabitable.
So, we sought to find out what the law provided, in this scenario, whether you are an owner or a tenant. The housing and construction code is clear: “When a building is subject to a temporary ban on habitation (…) the owner or operator is required to provide the occupants with accommodation decent” If you are a tenant, you do not have to pay anything, the landlord will take care of rehousing you. But we looked hard: nothing is planned, however, for owner-occupiers. On the town hall side, a deputy mayor explains that an aid fund does exist, but here again the owner-occupiers are not eligible: “The town has no obligation to rehouse and it is supposed to be covered by home insurance.”
There are dozens of similar situations in the Gironde prefecture. In Bordeaux last year, the town hall issued 141 danger orders. This is three times more than four years ago, and for more than half of the buildings concerned, evacuations took place.
In the Saint-Michel district, Mannaïg Charpentier lives in a studio in a Bordeaux stone building. In June 2023, the Bordeaux resident was informed by email of a jeopardy order for four apartments in the building where she lives. The common wall at the back of his courtyard is crumbling. “No one helped us. Initially, we were perhaps told about having help solutions with the municipal social action center, but in the end nothing, we were left to our own devices. We barely had a week to pack up and move out of the apartment.” Then, nothing more. The wall in question adjoins another building, its owners are taking the matter in hand. Mannaïg Charpentier, tired of the situation not changing, can only note: “We were made to believe that it was going to last three months, then that we would be home for Christmas, then in February… And then we are in February and the latest news still no company actually chosen for the work.” Not having the means to pay the rent for a new apartment, Mannaïg Charpentier, her partner and their newborn have been living with the grandmother of the Bordeaux woman since June and are still paying a loan for an apartment in which they cannot not live. The only gesture of his assurance: he was offered 5 days of rehousing.
An uninsurable administrative decision
Following testimonies from residents who do not get help from their insurance, we did the test ourselves. To the question: are we covered in the event of a danger order, here is what we were unanimously answered: “It is not something that we insure! Our guarantees are: fire, explosion, water damage, etc.” The peril order is an administrative decision which cannot be insured according to this other company: “A peril is a decision by the town hall to make this accommodation unoccupied, strictly speaking, it is not a guaranteed loss.”
Faced with this impasse, Thomas Drouffe, owner and president of a disaster victims association, assures that the solution must come through a political decision: “The time for justice is not that of the victims. We cannot wait 10 years for a judgment to recover the insurance money and carry out the work. How do you survive for 10 years? So what we are pleading for is to have a solidarity fund which will pre-finance this work while awaiting the judgment.”
When contacted, the Ministry of Housing assured us that it was aware of the problem. A bill to simplify degraded housing will soon be voted on in the assembly.