“It starts again every year when it’s hot,” a seller told Le Figaro. “The squatters come at night when we are no longer there. Neighbors alert the police, but they often arrive too late. Sometimes they leave a pile of garbage. What can we do? It is a group of presentations for clients. “We can’t leave it empty or dirty! And if we put a cylinder cover, it is in danger of being damaged. We’re not going to watch all night with a gun. So we will install cameras and alarms.” The phenomenon has even turned into a “national sport,” according to local newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, which reported that the rise in break-ins was linked to the number of properties left vacant during the holiday season.
Two hundred complaints in Toulouse
Among the worst-hit areas is around Toulouse, in southwestern France, whose municipal alert platform, Allô Toulouse, has been inundated with complaints in recent weeks. “In the last three months, Allô Toulouse has recorded 200 complaints about this type of burglary,” Toulouse city hall told local media. “When a municipal swimming pool is invaded, the police are called upon to intervene as quickly as possible,” it said. A group of illegal bathers took over the Saint-Lys public pool last weekend after hours, but had cleared out by the time police showed up after neighbors complained. “But in shared private housing, security is above all the responsibility of owners and property management companies who must create effective conditions, in particular by controlling access to common areas.” Police reportedly do not always respond to pool squats if there are no clear violations. However, landlords are asked to contact the authorities if the break-in is accompanied by vandalism, violence, loud noise or drug use, or when the squatters “impede the access and free movement of tenants” or “the proper functioning of safety and security facilities” . The website guide-piscine.fr puts the number of daily calls to the police per day about such pool squatters at “10 to 15” nationally, but “above all in the south of France”.
