In Roubaix, the town council wants to offer brick houses for 1 euro in exchange for renovating them. The aim of the scheme is to curb the proliferation of abandoned and boarded-up houses in the city's poorer neighbourhoods. According to La Voix du Nord, this phenomenon is on the increase, creating an atmosphere that is hardly conducive to attracting new residents.
At a public meeting, Guillaume Delbar, Mayor of Roubaix, said that "we can't allow this to happen. Social landlords sometimes buy up walled houses and wait until they have all the houses they want before starting to renovate them. In the meantime, the housing is deteriorating. We don't like that".
Fencing off an abandoned house prevents squatters from moving in, which can also slow down renovation projects.
The municipality therefore wishes to buy back these walled-up houses and offer them for a symbolic euro to private individuals, who will however have to undertake to renovate the property to make it decent. For the mayor of Roubaix, "this will enable families to become homeowners, and these homes to be renovated. In the long term, this could breathe new life into these neighbourhoods".
The municipality of Roubaix is taking its inspiration from Liverpool in England, which carried out a similar operation to revitalise a totally neglected area. Twenty abandoned houses have now been sold.
A highly uncertain project
The local authority has not specified the details of the operation.
It's a safe bet that it will be more of an advertising operation than a real estate one!
Behind the term "abandoned" houses, there is a legal truth that the Town Hall cannot get around.
Although a specific procedure has been in place since 2004 to enable local authorities to become the owners of property that is no longer owned by the owner, it certainly can't apply to all walled-up houses. It will therefore be necessary to buy them back from the owners, who will retain the right to refuse.
Given the financial difficulties facing French communes, can Roubaix really finance such a project? And under the guise of solidarity, who will these houses be intended for if they have to provide a guarantee of complete renovation work? What about the legal arrangements? Will there have to be a resolutory clause in the sales contracts if the work is not carried out?
