His landlord wants to evict him, but his WhatsApp messages save him
A Casablanca shopkeeper risked losing his premises over six months of unpaid rent. Messages saved on his daughter’s phone ultimately proved that he had attempted to pay and led to the cancellation of his eviction.
The property-owning company was demanding 9 072 dirhams from the tenant, corresponding to six monthly payments of 1 512 dirhams between January and June 2024.
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After a warning remained unpaid within the prescribed period, the Casablanca Commercial Court ordered the shopkeeper’s eviction on 26 December 2024. It also ordered him to pay 1 500 dirhams for late payment.
But his daughter’s phone contained another version of the case.
The tenant claimed that he had already paid the first three months. For April, May and June, his daughter had contacted the owner’s representative on WhatsApp in order to hand him a cheque dated 5 July 2024.
The messages requested an appointment to exchange the cheque for the rent receipts. The shopkeeper explained that the representative usually came to collect the rent directly at his premises, but had stopped showing up.
WhatsApp was not sufficient on its own
The tenant had not simply shown his phone to the court. A judicial officer had examined the device and drawn up an official report recording the exchanges.
The proposed cheque and the statements of two witnesses also confirmed his attempts to pay.
The Casablanca Commercial Court of Appeal considered that these elements demonstrated his good faith. WhatsApp exchanges could constitute judicial presumptive evidence when supported by other evidence, according to the decision published by Jurisprudence.ma.
On 3 July 2025, the court therefore annulled the eviction and dismissed the owner’s claim.
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The decision does not mean that a simple screenshot automatically protects a tenant. In this case, the messages matched the dates, the cheque and the testimonies, and their existence had been officially established.
