What does the 'pool squat' case mean for property owners in france?

SQUATTERS RIGHTS HAVE BEEN CALLED INTO QUESTION IN RECENT LAWS AND COURT CASES Reports of a young man suing the co-owners of an apartment block after he was injured during an alleged ‘pool

squat’ have raised the issue of owners’ responsibilities towards those who enter their properties illegally.  The then-18-year-old man is said to have been paralysed from the neck down after

using the pool in Toulouse in summer 2022.  One co-owner claims the alleged victim, who she said had entered unauthorised, was pressing charges of negligence against the owners.  Further

reports clarified that no criminal charges were pressed, but the man’s lawyer has lodged a civil court case to determine who is responsible and to help finance specialised medical care he is

expected to need for the rest of his life.  The lawyer also asked the block’s management agency about the pool’s conformity with legal norms and state of maintenance.   Read more: 

Explained: safety rules for home pools in France and risks if do not comply Questions have, however, now been raised over whether the man was unauthorised.  His lawyer says he knew one of

the block’s co-owners.  Property lawyer Romain Rossi-Landi has said such situations have to be judged “case by case” but he confirmed that it is possible for owners to be found responsible

where there is no evidence of regular maintenance.  In 2022, France’s top appeal court, the Cour de cassation, ruled against a landlord in a case where a flat tenant, who was meant to have

left two years earlier, was injured after falling out of a window with a faulty guardrail.  This was despite him being issued with a court order to leave a year before.  The issue also arose

last year, when the Conseil constitutionnel struck out an article of an anti-squatting law that had aimed at exempting owners from responsibility if squatters come to harm on their

properties.  In doing so, it reaffirmed article 1244 of France’s Code Civil, which says owners are liable for damage caused due to lack of maintenance or a construction defect. Read more: Is

it true that squatters can sue property owners in France?