When squatters took a summer holiday, a frustrated homeowner in southern France seized the chance to reclaim her property. Now, instead of relief, she’s facing the possibility of seven years in prison and a €100,000 fine.
A nightmare that began with unpaid rent
Maria owns a small house on the outskirts of Carcassonne. What started as a standard rental turned sour when her tenants stopped paying rent for months. With the bills and mortgage still falling on her, Maria saw her renters transform into illegal occupants.
Under French law, removing squatters without going through official channels is a criminal offence — but Maria says she had reached breaking point.
“I emptied the house completely,” she told local reporters. “When they came back from holiday, they called the police. They had a bailiff document everything, and now I’m in the middle of legal proceedings.”
Why she took matters into her own hands
Maria says she weighed the costs carefully. With five months of unpaid rent already, she was covering the mortgage herself. She feared the situation could drag on through the winter eviction ban, pushing her losses over €20,000.
“I wasn’t ready to lose that much,” she explained. “I thought about what would happen next and decided to act before it got even worse.”
The legal risk of “self-eviction”
In France, squatters can be difficult — sometimes nearly impossible — to remove quickly. Legal eviction processes can stretch on for months, during which time the property owner is often unable to collect rent or use the home.
But attempting a self-eviction can backfire, as Maria’s case shows. By bypassing the legal system, she now faces serious criminal charges for taking justice into her own hands.
A wider problem for homeowners
Her story is part of a broader debate in France over squatter rights and the legal protections afforded to property owners. Critics argue that the current system can leave honest homeowners trapped, forced to shoulder mortgage payments while strangers live in their property.
For now, Maria’s case is a cautionary tale: however tempting it may be to act immediately, the legal route — however slow — remains the only safe way to resolve a squatting dispute without risking severe penalties.
