In Toulouse, Georges, 84, fights to recover his squatted house for the third time
For nearly a week, the house of Georges, 84, located in Izards, Toulouse, has been squatted. This is the third time that the retiree has had to face this kind of situation.
Georges Dematis, 84, owns a house – a Toulouse with a large garden and an extension at the back – at 112, route de Launaguet, in the Izards district, in Toulouse. Since Tuesday, October 19 at noon, he noticed that it was squatted. “Every morning I walk past to get my bread and take a look. But that day I passed by and saw nothing. It was a friend from the hamlet who alerted me to the presence of squatters, ”says the owner of the premises. And when he goes there, Georges Dematis can only note the occupation of his house. “They were there, they had set up tables, they were eating and drinking,” he explains. He also telephones the national police who have visited.
By taking possession of the premises, “the new tenants”, a few people, installed a new padlock on the portait and stuck a note on the wall. It says: “This is our home as well as our primary residence. As residents of the building, we are protected by law. To act outside the procedural framework is to run up against the principles of French law of the inviolability of the home according to article 432-8 of the Penal Code etc. “.
“This is the third time that we have been squatted”
“This is the third time that my house has been squatted,” laments Georges Dematis. Also last year, he had “walled everything up. The tree fell on the house, we suppose that this would protect us from the squatters, but no… ”, adds the daughter Marie-Ange, who supports in her fight to recover her house.
His father lives a few meters from the house, in a dead end. He has already met the squatters. “They taunt me every time I pass,” he says. What makes Marie-Ange tremble. “I’m afraid for him,” she said.
Georges Dematis and his daughter have been trying to sell this house for three and a half years. They are currently in talks with a builder over a building permit application. “We have a promise to sell which will be placed on the portal by a judicial officer on Tuesday. The future buyer is aware that the house is squatted but unfortunately, it is up to us to get them out. If ever, we don’t do it on time, we lose everything, ”concludes Marie-Ange. She has just created a group on Facebook: Support for Georges 84 years old house squatting Toulouse.
A story that is of course reminiscent of Roland, whose house on Avenue de Fronton, not far from Georges’s, had been occupied several months before the squatters left in the face of pressure from a collective in support of the octogenarian.