November 1st marks the beginning of the trêve hivernale, or the winter truce as it can be translated, meaning French landlords cannot forcibly evict tenants until the truce ends on March 31st next year. The truce is meant as a humanitarian measure to ensure people don't become homeless and end up sleeping on the cold winter streets. From April 1st, police or bailiffs can start carrying out eviction notices that have been piling up throughout the winter months or weren't carried out before the truce came into effect. Charities recognise that the process needs to be sped up for home owners who, because of the five month winter truce, often have to wait years before an eviction is finally carried out. The concept of the "winter truce" may seem foreign to those from English-speaking countries, as many of them don't have anything similar in their law books.

Source: The Local November 02, 2016 14:19 UTC