Parliamentary report proposes to perpetuate and extend rent control

The end of the experiment with controlled rents, implemented in 72 communities, is planned for November 2026.

Following the flash mission entrusted to the two deputies, Inaki Echaniz told AFP that "all the municipalities are satisfied and are seeing concrete effects" in their territories.

The report also concludes that the system "is not the cause of the general decline in rental supply, which also affects cities without supervision." It points out that the supervision "is not intended to lower rents" but to support the increase in order to "avoid excessive rents."

According to the Paris Urban Planning Workshop (APUR), the average rent observed between July 2023 and June 2024 in Paris was 8,2% lower than it would have been in the absence of supervision.

The two MPs aim to quickly submit a bill based on this report and an economic assessment mission commissioned by the government in order to "legislate and improve the system," said Finistère MP Annaïg Le Meur.

One of the report's proposals is to allow all volunteer town halls located in high-demand areas and their neighboring municipalities to implement rent controls.

To better define rent supplements - currently "the most unclear part of the system" according to Inaki Echaniz - the report suggests giving a relative price per m2 to "additional areas" (terrace, cellar, mezzanine, etc.) which will be added to the basic rent.

Currently, these rent supplements "generate a lot of litigation," according to the MP for Pyrénées-Atlantiques, who calls for transparency in court decisions to guide owners and real estate agents on the exceptional characteristics that are permitted.

The two MPs also made recommendations for a better calculation of the reference rent. They also recommended countering strategies to circumvent the law through co-living or shared accommodation, and also rebalancing appeal deadlines and protecting tenants from unfair termination of the lease.

In June, left-wing parliamentarians and mayors mobilized to defend the system, which is used in Paris, Lille, Lyon, and Bordeaux, and a bill was tabled in the Senate. Annaïg Le Meur and Inaki Echaniz, however, plan to table a new bill.

The outgoing Housing Minister, Valérie Létard, had requested assessments of the system before any possible decision on its future.

Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged, welcomes the proposals in the report, which is "highly anticipated because it is bipartisan": "It's a great victory for tenants facing indecent rents, which should lead to a law making the framework permanent as soon as possible," he said in a statement sent to AFP.

"Rent control works and must be made permanent. In Paris, this system has already proven its worth. Thanks to it, each tenant saves an average of €1.200 per year," responded Ian Brossat, a communist senator for Paris and co-author of the bill submitted to the Senate, in a statement.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.