Victim of the Covid crisis, a piano restorer has become homeless
The Covid-19 crisis is still raging. In hospitals, the number of intensive care admissions remains stable, but the collateral financial damage is beginning to be felt. This is the dramatic misadventure that occurs to Jérôme Riquez, a piano restorer based in Avion, in Pas-de-Calais. Unable to fully pay his rent, the 62-year-old man now finds himself on the street and unable to work.
The troubles of this piano tuner begin in March 2020 with the first confinement linked to the epidemic. “Artistic and cultural life came to a standstill and it was very active for two years. Moreover, it is not yet completely gone”, he tells 20 minutes. However, this decline in activity was fatal for this technician whose job consisted essentially in adjusting, during concerts, brand pianos such as Steinway, Yamaha or Fazioli. In particular at the municipal theater of Calais and at the Coliseum of Lens.
Accumulation of debts
“I am one of the few to do this in the Lille, Lens and Arras sector,” he explains. After a rather prosperous 36-year career, he saw his activity decline overnight for lack of scheduled concerts. And state aid is not enough. “I received 3,000 euros in all and for everything at the start of confinement. Not enough to compensate for the financial losses of my profession, ”he assures.
In fact, with a commercial guarantee of 1,000 euros per month, the debts accumulate quickly to the point of practically reaching 10,000 euros. “Before, I had always honored my rent, but the landlord even initiated an eviction procedure. “A first visit from the bailiff warns him, at the beginning of March, that he has one month to leave the premises. Then a second, more muscular intervened, on April 15, with three police officers and half a dozen movers to embark the seven pianos he had in charge.
“I lost, at the same time, my work tool, car and computer included, but also my accommodation since I occupy, out of tolerance, a small outbuilding which served as my dwelling. Everything was taken from me. I would never have imagined that it could happen to me, ”laments Jérôme Riquez. A request to suspend the expulsion decision had however been sent to the enforcement judge in order to give him a few months to get out of the crisis.
Objective: recover the pianos
Warned, the town hall of Avion tried to oppose the expulsion. “Impossible insofar as it was not a residential lease”, recognizes the new homeless person who now lives with a friend in Boulogne-sur-Mer. “Each trip by train is very expensive and the procedure has caused my debts to explode. I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this as my professional commitments began to slowly pick up again. »
The short-term objective is to recover the pianos by unearthing 7,000 euros before they are sold in the auction room on May 5. A petition has been uploaded to change.org to support Jérôme Riquez.