The tenant, names only as Dominique, paid €300 a month for the flat and was unaware that it violated Paris city by laws which set a minimum size for a rental property of nine square meters.
But in this case the apartment, in the 11th arrondissement which is one of the most densely populated parts of Paris, was the size of an average toilet with room only just for a mattress, sink and a single hob for cooking. There was no toilet and no shower.
The landlord and the Riberoux estate agents who managed the flat were ordered to pay a total of €10,000 in damages for violation of property rights, €1,000 in moral damages and €815 to cover relocation expenses.
The tenant’s case was championed by French housing charity the Fondation Abbé Pierre, which campaign against the letting of minuscule apartments, many of which are being rented out in Paris illegally.
‘Until then the smallest flat I’d ever seen was three square metres, but Dominique broke that sad record. Some landlords are unscrupulous. The law is there but it needs to be enforced,’ said Samuel Mouchard from the organization.
‘Tenants need to know that it’s forbidden. If they have doubts they can go to their local Town Hall where measures can be taken to protect them or to rehouse them,’ he added.
The court ruling comes at a time of year in France which is known as the eviction season with the end of a rule that prevents landlords from kicking tenants out during the winter months. Under the so-called ‘winter truce’ from 01 November to 01 April it is illegal for landlords to kick out tenants for any reason, even if they haven’t paid their rent for months.
According to the most recent statistics available, 115,000 families were subject in 2012 to court ordered evictions, an increase of 37% in the last 10 years.
The president of the national landlords union, Union Nationale de la Propriété Immobilière, said the moratorium should be stopped.
There has been talk of creating a fund to subsidise tenants who are in trouble, but the idea has gone nowhere. A law that is to take effect in 2016 could have served this purpose, but its requirements will be optional.
